Ella and Chocolate

Back in December, our dear dog Ella ate almost an entire bar of dark chocolate.

Meet Ella.

In case you didn't know, dark chocolate is pretty much poison to dogs. The darker the chocolate, the more poisonous to the dog.

Ella is only about 45 lbs so her eating dark chocolate is more dangerous because it's more likely to kill her than if she was a 100lb dog.

Anyways, so she eats the chocolate. At first she's fine, it was late at night, we go to bed, thinking that she might be a little sick the next day.

Around 3am, we hear this yelp. This poor cry for help. Ella had never made this noise before, it was so tragic and sad. Since Nev sleeps like a rock, I immediately got up to check on poor Ella.

Needless to say, she wasn't doing well. Not only could she not control, her um, bowel movements, the caffeine from the chocolate had made her SO hyper she couldn't sit still. Her muscles were twitching. She was running around the apartment in this mad craze, like some one who had taken drugs and was having a really bad trip.

Anyways, Nev wakes up, we call the vet, decide to wait it out and needless to say, Ella didn't die.

Now, months later, everything is fine.
OR SO WE THOUGHT.

A few weeks ago, Nev and I sleep in really late, till about noon. The chocolate incident is far behind is, pretty much forgotten. Then, we hear a yelp.
The same poor, sad cry we heard in December.

Nev immediately gets up, and decides that we just stayed in bed too long, and takes Ella out.
A few weeks later, again past noon, same thing happens.

Slowly but surely, Ella begins yelping earlier and earlier in the morning.
Then, yesterday, she does it at 9am. We were up until 2:30am. And we took her out. We realize that our dog has been CONNING us, like the little sneak she is.

So we leave her in her gated area, but she doesn't stop. Nev finally has had enough, and takes action.

And how do you stop a dog from yelping like you're starving her to death?
You kick her.

KIDDING. We do not beat our dog.
This is what I hear:

"Now, Ella, stop it. Stop it right now. Stop. We are not letting you out."

Yes, let's talk to the dog like she understands us.
Of course, after Nev leaves her, she does it again.
Our neighbors probably think we're horrible pet owners.

And he goes to Ella, again, and tells her in a calm, patient voice, "Stop. Stop crying. You need to stop this right now."

Anyways, eventually we get up and let her out and she runs around the apartment. I'm sure if she could talk she would say something like "I'M FREEEEEE! FREEEEEEEEE!"

And yes, this morning she did it again. Around 9am. Sigh.

So the main point you should get from this story is, do not let your dog eat chocolate. Not only because it might kill her, but then she ends up conning you and you will never be allowed to sleep in again.