Chocolate can be fatal to dogs. If your pooch ingests it, your vet may recommend giving her a dose of hydrogen peroxide / Photo: Katerina Lorenzatos Makris

On Valentine’s Day and beyond, chocolate lurks in many homes. It’s a luscious ingredient in candies, cakes, energy bars, and all kinds of other treats. For us, this is terrific. For our dogs, it’s terrible… and potentially fatal.

If you suspect your pooch has ingested some of this delicious but dog-deadly substance, here’s some advice from our book Your Adopted Dog: Everything You Need to Know About Rescuing and Caring for a Best Friend in Need.

PLEASE NOTE: Because neither my coauthor Shelley Frost nor I are veterinary professionals, we asked three veterinarians to check every word of the health care chapters, and incorporated all of their suggested changes.

ANOTHER NOTE:  Eating chocolate is extremely dangerous for dogs, REQUIRING URGENT VETERINARY CARE. First aid should be given only as a temporary measure, if necessary, while you contact and arrange to get to the vet. The info below is an initial guide to help you prepare for emergencies. It is not intended as a diagnostic reference or treatment plan, or as a substitute for immediate veterinary attention.

What to do if your dog eats chocolate?

Excerpt from Your Adopted Dog: Everything You Need to Know About Rescuing and Caring for a Best Friend in Need, by Shelley Frost and Katerina Lorenzatos Makris, The Lyons Press.

(From Chapter Six, Urgent Health Needs of Rescued Dogs: Everything you always wanted to know but were too panicked to ask; how to spot and handle health emergencies)

Symptoms:  Vomiting, hyperactivity or nervousness, frequent urination, nausea, diarrhea.

First aid steps: Induce vomiting with hydrogen peroxide.

CAUTION:  Make sure it is hydrogen peroxide 3%.

Give him one tablespoon for every 10 pounds of body weight.

Fill a turkey baster or plastic syringe with the liquid (or a spoon if those aren’t available), and squirt into the mouth or cheek.

Repeat up to three times, every 15 minutes, until vomiting occurs.

AFTER vomiting has occurred, give tablets of activated charcoal—one 5-gram tablet for every 10 pounds of weight.

For more info on pet holiday hazards:

Valentine’s Day pet safety tips

Katerina Lorenzatos Makris is a career journalist, author, and editor. Her fiction includes 17 novels for Simon and Schuster, E.P. Dutton, Avon, and other major publishers (under the name Kathryn Makris), as well as a teleplay for CBS-TV, and a short story for The Bark magazine. She has written hundreds of articles for regional wire services and for outlets such as National Geographic Traveler, The San Francisco Chronicle, Travelers’ Tales, NBC’s Petside.com, Animal Issues Reporter.org, and Examiner.com (Animal Policy Examiner).

ALL MATERIAL ON THIS WEBSITE INCLUDING TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHY IS PROTECTED UNDER COPYRIGHT TO KATERINA LORENZATOS MAKRIS OR THE AUTHOR NOTED. YOU MAY REPOST OR REPRINT A PARAGRAPH OR TWO WITHOUT PERMISSION, AS LONG AS YOU PROVIDE ATTRIBUTION TO THE AUTHOR/PHOTOGRAPHER. HOWEVER, IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO REPOST OR REPRINT MORE THAN JUST A PARAGRAPH OR TWO, THE LAW REQUIRES YOU TO REQUEST PERMISSION, WHICH YOU MAY DO VIA EMAIL TO youradopteddogATyahooDOTcom. Thank you for respecting our hard work!