So, what do kids do on Halloween evening?
They Trick-Or-Treat, right? And, usually that means that by the time the kids are done, they're exhausted and crash as soon as they get home, leaving all the candy to the greedy adults. No? You know damn well the answer is YES.
After the kids had crashed Halloween evening, the adults stayed up to watch 'Orphan.' (very good BTW) The scene was set...
Candy, popcorn, drinks, etc. With all the extra people, I had in the family room, I had to make a pallet for my sister and me. It brought back memories of kiddie sleepovers! We watched the movie, ate the candy, watched the movie, ate the candy... we were all so energized from the junk food that we decided to stay up and watch another movie, 'The Proposal.' (also, very good) Well, some of us. My husband and sister-in-law went to bed, leaving my dad, my brother, sis, and me to finish watching the last bit of our movie marathon. (by this point, it was well past 1 a.m.)
Once the movie was over and we all felt like candied out zombies, we all packed it up for bed. Here's the story...
My "Furry Kids" are crated in the upstairs bonus room. They had been put up prior to the start of the two movies. The kids had also crashed in the middle of the bonus room floor, smack dab in the walking path of the dogs. So, I asked my brother for his help in taking them outside one last time before we went to bed. I handled Harley, our pit, and Tucker, our pug. My brother took care of Murphy, our Chocolate Lab. He went upstairs first. I followed. We gingerly walked the dogs through the kid’s pallets, and sent the dogs to their rooms. Latch here, latch there... or so we thought.
I was awoken the next morning by my sister-in-law asking if we had left Murphy out for the night. "No", I told her. (We never do, unless he's in the bedroom with us)
You can imagine my immediate concern.
1. Murphy is a great dog.
2. When left unattended, Murphy loves to dig through trash cans.
3. Murphy is a great dog.
4. When you're not watching, Murphy loves to eat socks.
5. Murphy is a great dog.
6. When you're back is turned, Murphy loves to chew on bras.
7. Murphy is a great dog.
8. When you don't yell. "THAT'S ENOUGH", Murphy will drink so much water he'll puke.
9. Murphy is a great dog.
10. Murphy is a GREAT DOG, BUT HE CAN'T BE TRUSTED.
So... she proceeds to tell me that she was woken up by Murphy wandering around their bed (they slept on an extra mattress downstairs in the living room, adjacent to the family room)
Oh boy...
She then says, "There's hard candy stuck in the carpet in the family room, I'm not sure how much he ate."
"Shit" was the first thought that entered my mind. (hubby barely woke up)
I'm also at this point thinking, Is my dog OK? Is he dying?
Well, after peeking into his crate and seeing him look up at me with his usual friendly eyes, I assumed he was OK, for the time being anyway.
I proceed to go downstairs not knowing exactly what awaited me. I come around the corner to see a bunch of hard candy stuck in the carpet, but no huge mess like I anticipated. *wiped brow* I did have to gently cut some of the carpet out to remove all the hard candy.
At this stage of the drama, no one really knew how MUCH Murphy ate, and what exactly. When my brother woke up, he had stated that at least 1/3 of the bag was missing.
"Shit" was my thought again. Among other things.
Fingers start pointing as to who's to blame for all of this, but honestly it was an accident... plain & simple. The crate hasn't latched correctly a couple of times for my hubby & I. (we just caught it early on) BUT, we've never left candy out before. Our home is what you would call, "puppy proofed." Until Saturday night, anyhow. Now yes, I should have noticed that my brother left my nephew's candy bag in-between the recliner and side table, but I didn't. (Remember, Hubby went to bed early so "clean up" was my duty)
How Murphy ended up sniffing out the candy specifically is beyond me. But he did.
About 5 hours had passed from the point where Murphy was "caught" and when I was woken up. Besides Murphy acting like he was on speed, he seemed fine. This all changed around Noon, after the family had left. (It's like he was waiting for them to leave?)
Murphy didn't look so good. We put him in his crate to enable him to calm down, settle his stomach, and basically rest. About 10 minutes later... well, let's just say, what goes in must come out.
YACK!
You could see everything. Too much. Wrappers and all. You could see what he ate. Poor thing.
After 1 vomiting spell, he was a little better.
Then... every 5 minutes we took him outside for more... only this time it was from the other end. YUCK!
We had contemplated taking him to the Vet several times, but he kept getting better. So, we waited it out. (I did call the E-Vet center for advice and their take on the issue, so I felt good about it)
Around 5 p.m. that evening, Murphy was feeling more like himself. We isolated him from the other two just so he could "recover." You know how you feel right after Thanksgiving Dinner? Well, that's more than likely how he felt. His tummy looked SO full!
What can I say? It was a very eventful Halloween.
Lesson learned: Leave your kids Halloween candy ALONE. It's theirs. They did most of the work to get it. Just hide it when they go to bed.
p.s. Sorry if this post was too much for you! :)