rio and chocolate - or - how food affects behaviour

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believe me, the combination of . . . . .

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is a very unfortunate one. this is what happened during the weekend.

Saturday, i plan to make cookies for an invitation on friday. 300g of dark chocolate and 200g butter were ready on the counter to be processed, pushed all the way back, with apples and a box of kleenex in front of it.

after hopping off to see a new puppy school in the area for 30 min elie tells me that rio was 'on the worktop' ingesting all those goodies. too late to say anything of course, but doggy's stomach did look a little expanded . . . . . and that was after he had had his own dinner. in addition chocolate can be toxic to dogs (http://www.talktothevet.com/ARTICLES/DOGS/chocolatetoxic.HTM) and with all the 75% chocolate he was luckily still in the safe range.

Sunday, we had a morning of Rio-hypness on the fleamarket and then went out to visit friends (those who the cookies were for). a few hours later are back and discover rio has been on top of another worktop (paw prints clearly visible) to grab some salmon in a glass i had left out for, yes, him, has jumped on a high chair in the kitchen to grab half a pack of milk chocolate digestives, and jumped on another shelf to unsuccessfully get to some dog biscuits that had been up there for about 4 months (the shelf came down with everything on it).

This morning, Monday, i planned to take him on the second walk after walking indi and a labrador. when i came back to pick him up our breakfast bread was gone from the place we have left it for the last two years. so what is wrong with that little guy ??? when i saw that i hated him and did not talk nicely to him, persued him with the hose in the garden, probably less for a change in his behaviour but venting some of my anger.

what will be next ???? dog knows. a diet for sure. and locking away everything, buying some wire mesh possibly so he can get used to the smell of unreachable bread.

and why did it come to that ? why did his habits change within 3 days ? things he never touch ed before suddenly are a delicacy ? even though they have been around in the same places for years. one of my clues is that i fed him pedigree pal pouches together with mixer this week. tinned food is like junkfood for dogs and it might well be that it made him really really greedy. this is the only change that has happened recently, as far as i can think. any ideas and tips welcome of course !!