YGRR members have reported frightening, life-threatening episodes with Goldens given rawhide bones, rope toys, and chew hooves. We would like to emphasize that all of these owners are extremely careful, experienced and vigilant dog owners. Nonetheless, somehow the dogs managed to get into trouble. We relate these stories so that other dogs and their owners might avoid the hazard. Remember that each dog is an individual. Just because previous dogs you’ve owned never ate a rawhide, rope toy or hoof, don’t assume that any new dog will not. Your caution might save his life and your money!

Rawhide
In the rawhide incident, a one year old Golden managed to ingest the knot at the end of the rawhide while her owner looked away for just a few minutes. The knot became lodged in the dog’s throat and despite repeated efforts to pull it out, her owner could not budge the knot. The dog was able to breathe, but she could not eat. The emergency occurred on a Saturday night with no emergency veterinarian nearby. With veterinary telephone advice, the owner coaxed the dog to drink some water which dislodged the knot and it moved down into the dog’s digestive system. She was then instructed to feed the dog a high fiber diet for a few days, along with periodic “globs” of vaseline to lubricate her system. The dog passed the knot but had it blocked her breathing passage, it could have cost her life.

Rope Toys
In the rope toy incident, an eight year old Golden managed to ingest the fringe next to the knot while the owner was out of the room for a few minutes. The dog began to pace around and was clearly uncomfortable but the owner could not determine where the big mass of string had lodged. With veterinary advice, the owner fed the dog bread soaked in milk, to try to lubricate the throat. The Golden vomited up the pile of string and recovered completely. Had the string made it into his intestines, he might have required surgery.

Chew Hooves
In the chew hoof incident, a two year old Golden became very ill with an intestinal obstruction. She required very expensive surgery during which the surgeon found small pieces of chew hoof that had broken off and been ingested by the dog without the owner’s knowledge. Three-quarters of the dog’s small intestine had to be removed. Two years later, the dog was suffering from abdominal pain and she required surgery again (during which her heart stopped and she had to be revived). Following that (very expensive) surgery, because of all the scar tissue on her intestines, the dog had to eat a low fat diet for the rest of her life to avoid having diarrhea. The multiple surgeries cost her owner thousands of dollars and tremendous emotional upheaval.

The lesson is: Don’t allow your dog to have these chew toys unless you are absolutely certain he will not eat them. Give him safer toys like nylabones, kongs or galileo bones.