Dog gets addicted to drugs – the toad-sucking dog!

Narrated from: Dog Stories

Has it come to this? Dogs succumbing to one of man’s greatest weaknesses? Stealing money from home, converging with suspicious-looking guys in dark alleys, carrying syringes in their teeth?

No.

Dogs can get addicted to this kind of drug only if humans administer it to them – and that would be one bad owner.

However, some dogs have been able to find a way to circumvent the limitations of their species.

They have discovered one of mankind’s oldest forms of drug addiction – er, toad-licking.

Gross, eh? However, you would be surprised how many people do it nowadays…

In 2006, a suburban Cocker Spaniel named Lady discovered to her delight that the toads living around her home were toxic – this means that when they are licked, the fluids on their skin provide a hallucinogenic effect.

This ancient defensive mechanism against predators, as it turns out, can be not only distracting, but rather pleasurable for some predators – Cocker Spaniels included.

A Living Dead Dog

A drugged dog, especially if it is the beloved and adorable family Cocker Spaniel, is not a pretty sight. At some point the dog’s owners started to notice that Lady spent far too much time by the local pond, but couldn’t possibly imagine what the gentle dog was doing there.

The symptoms got more and more worrying – Lady would wander around aimlessly, with a glassy look in her warm eyes, and wouldn’t interact normally with the other members of her pack. However, the family owned many more dogs, and so for a while Lady’s problems didn’t cause that much concern.

Until, one late night, the dog came to her mistress in a very bad state, opened her mouth as if to vomit – and a toad leapt out!

Rehabilitation?

When winter came, and the nasty toads went away, Lady seemed to get better. The dog didn’t exhibit any signs of suffering from withdrawal, and seemed to be picking up the pieces of her doggy life.

However, come spring her owners found out that Lady had just been biding her time – and waiting for the toads to re-emerge!

Word quickly got out, and the neighbors were quick to forbid their dogs from playing with the drug addict of the canine district.

One never knows if this had any therapeutic effect, but Lady seemed to get some degree of control over her addiction (something which many people, sadly, fail to do) – and according to her owners, started to suck toads only on weekends!

to top of the page
Previous Next

Other articles that might interest you::