As the story went, it was in the grooming area of a dog show that a Bloodhound snagged a can of soda off a table on his way to the ring. No one noticed it until the group judge checked the dog’s bite.

Another Bloodhound surprised the veterinarian who found 97 rocks and a screw in the dog’s stomach.

Then there was the owner who reported that their Bloodhound ate or chewed up (order unknown):

• Christmas bulbs;
• The wood door and cover from a hot tub;
• Three sets of blinds;
• 15 pairs of shoes;
• Slippers;
• Trim off the wall;
• Two dining chair legs
• Every knob off the kitchen/bathroom cabinets;
• A shower curtain;
• A rug
• Chicken wings;
• An entire pizza off the counter (still in the box);
• Two leashes and three collars;
• Kitty litter;
• The pillows and a blanket used to line her crate.

We detected a theme during this thread of our Purebred of Interest feature on the Bloodhound back in 2015, and learned that there was precedence: In 1997, Reuters Wire Service reported that when Rachel Murray was unable to find the cell phone she’d given her flatmate for Christmas, she had the phone company retrieve the phone number and call it. She heard the phone ringing from inside her flatmate’s Bloodhound, Charlie. A veterinarian suggested they let nature take its course, and 24 hours later, the phone “emerged” in perfect working order (reported in Dogmania: Amazing but True Canine Tales).

Natural skeptics that we are, however, we still weren’t sold that some Bloodhounds will eat anything that isn’t nailed down, so we asked our experts (Bloodhound owners) if their hound had ever eaten anything “exotic?” 

Here were their answers:

• [Mine ate] the entire lower edge off of the cover on the hot tub…shredded garden hose and sprayer; no telling what got eaten since it was all over the place. Mind you this was same day;”

• “A friend’s Bloodhound ate a twin size chenille bedspread. They decided to watch and wait and the spread passed. Before they could get out to grab it, she ate it again;

• I was sitting at the computer in the living room a few years ago, with my puppy sleeping on the couch and realized that, not only was she not sleeping….she was quietly gnawing the arm off the sofa. Bad owner!”

• “Whole squirrel… Passed the same way it went in … Nuff said…”

• “Mine has eaten a towel, stuffing out of a dog bed, and several mice…he’s a better mouser than any cat;”

• “Rocks, a shingle off the roof, nails, stuffing, squeakers, varying pieces of cloth, socks, the list is truly endless. One of my girls chewed a bunch of my shoes when I was away on a trip, but only the left ones. So my husband (thinking like a man), only threw away the chewed ones and left the rest in the closet, and never told me! One morning several weeks later, I am running around like a nut trying to find a missing shoe, only to find out what really happened;”

• “My wallet….three times …..in less than two months. The first time, replacing everything was bad enough,  but to have to go back the third time to replace my Concealed Carry Pistol permit in NY (not a particularly pro-carry state), they began to question if I was stable enough to have a permit. I had to bring the dog and the (partially processed) evidence in on the third visit. Mortifying!!”

• “Barney is my worst one yet. He has tried to commit suicide a few times, first time ate a package of Coldeeze, a can of Solarcaine, tube of toothpaste, face cream, bar of soap, a bottle of Tums, and a banana. Second time was the rest of my bathroom amenities, plus a t-shirt, alarm clock (no batteries though) (twice), glasses, toothbrush. He can escape his crate, and once spent his time going room to room, taking one item from each room, brought it downstairs to chew it up on the rug, and continued his foraging;”

• “Socks…..over the nine years with Sunshine, she has eaten and eliminated at least 300 socks..No matter how high the laundry basket is, or how tightly its shut, she manages to find them;”

• “My Ellie Mae did this at 10 months (photo below). First time she ever tore anything up….unfortunately it wasn’t the last;

• “The control to the gaming system, a computer keyboard and an entire roast i had sitting on the counter resting;”

• “I have had three that ate rocks. One did it just once and never did it again. [The] two others multiple times, and multiple rocks. One loved paper which is not bad until you get a notification that they are going to turn off your electric as the dog ate the last three bills and you didn’t notice you hadn’t paid the bill. Several have eaten remote controls, phones, chairs, couches etc. Sigh… The biggest problem with small objects, is they grab them when you are not looking and because of the mouth size you don’t notice until you cant find it or they stop eating… quick trip to the vet for an x-ray and surprise Surprise…. there it is….”

• “I haven’t seen 45 caliber bullets mentioned yet…”

• “The molding around the stairs, and dry wall. Countless barbie dolls & underwear. Toilet paper, cardboard, pens,pencils, markers, squeakers from toys. And something that was neon orange that we still cannot figure out what it was;”

• “I do the yogurt in the cotton balls… after something has already gone down the hatch… which is sharp or may cause trouble… this works great for Christmas ornaments… screws, pins, etc. Zoey ate a picture frame… the glass was neatly wrapped in the cotton balls.. really impressive… The money clip was eaten twice, did not notice until found in the yard. Zoey ate a bunch of caterpillars on top of a bunch of tomatoes out of the garden, we went on pooh patrol – wow, an open safety pin, the kind that come from cleaners on a hangar… NO MORE safety pins… a couple pennies and a dime.. and the shells of the caterpillars and tomatoes…”

• “My Navy husband and I were going out of town for a military banquet. He had his dress uniform laid out. We went to pack to leave and his aviator wings, rank insignia, and medals were missing. We were dumbfounded as we made a mad rush to the uniform shop to get replacements. Upon returning to town, I went to pick up our boy, Opus, from the kennel. The owner greeted me holding a plastic bag as she laughed, “Do you know what came out of your dog?”

• “The patio cushions did not survive…” (see below)

• “Magellan likes to redecorate. During his first 18 months of life, he ate four living room furniture sets. One morning, I woke up to find my sofa in the kitchen;”

• “We had about 1,500 sq ft of our back yard fenced in so the dogs would have a safe place to play when we couldn’t be out with them…Our Bloodhound ate the fence. It took her four years but we are pretty sure every board at this point has been replaced. We finally got smart and nailed goat fence onto the inside. The wooden part still looks horrible though. Also, she eats goat poop… So gross;”

• “My riding lawnmower.. She didn’t actually eat the whole thing,  but the pedals and shifters. And plastic covers.”

• “The rockers off a rocking chair,  a 2 x 4,  and part of a 2 x 8 nailed down (my front porch);”

• “Oh, let’s see…numerous pairs of Victoria’s Secret underwear and bras, several pairs of American Eagle boxers, six Kate Spade handbags, 23 pairs of shoes, 15 pairs of flip flops, two iPhones….and the list goes on and on!”

• “My Penny ate an entire corn dog, stick and all. This led ro the very first corndogectomy performed by our vet! Emergency surgery in the middle of the night is not cheap!”

• “Ours ate three cells phones in a week;”

• “When I got my boy I decided to keep track. I wanted to see how much a free dog would cost. What ever you do do not attempt to add up the cost, I don’t want to know anymore. Stuff Roscoe has eaten or destroyed:

  10 pair of underwear
  1 bra
  2 tshirts
  1 purse
  6 pair shoes
  2 belts
  Kiddie pool
  2 ea Trailer lights
  3 bicycle seats
  2 snowmachine seat
  3 Snowmachine covers
  Snowblower cover
  3 Tarps
  Lap top cord
  Lap top (spilled coffee on it)
  2 Rubbermaid totes
  Flower pots & seed trays/starters
  Champaign flute
  3 throw pillows
  Sump pump
  2 garden hoses
  3 pairs of sunglasses
  Power box for the water well
  Two folding Lawn chairs
  Folding camp table
  Pop up canopy
  Bean bag travel pillow
  Pair of water boots
  Kill-a-watt
  Pair of headphones
  6 pairs of eye glasses
  Package of halibut defrosting in sink
  1/4 stick of butter
  Broke the spoon rest from the stove
  3ea Mechanical pencil
  Attempted to debug my work computer (pressed cntl + shift + I at same time)
  Calculator
  2 extension cords
  2 outdoor light timers
  Heater plug on Wife’s car
  Music CD (sounds of nature)
  Stick of deodorant
  Basket of rocks
  Measuring spoon
  Hearing aid;”

• “My Coley is a purebred, so on National Purebred Dog Day, I gave her bacon as a treat. I failed to mention she loves to eat sticks and bark from trees;”

• “Styrofoam cups and tooth paste and the toothpaste cap and the top part of the plunger handle;”

To be fair to the Bloodhound, lots of breeds “eat stuff,” and in the same thread, we heard from the owners of other breeds including this Labrador Retriever owner:

• “My Lab ate my reclining couch down to the metal frame (in only four hours), our rug straight down to the sub-flooring, plastic spoons, countless toys, earthworms (yes, pulled them out of the ground like a bird!), sticks, extreme Kongs, rocks, cardboard boxes, toilet paper, leashes, socks, ball caps – he was quite the frequent flier at the vet. And very sneaky. Lol. Somehow him & his iron stomach lived to be 13 and no surgeries.”

We shouldn’t laugh, but most of us did because so many of the accounts were presented with wit and good humor – and more importantly, no fatalities were reported. That said, the suffering, angst, worry, and expense of having a dog that “eats things” should never be minimized, and if you have a dog that eats “stuff,”  you should probably read what PetMd says about the subject. 

Photo by Kimberly Caris