Our four legged friends cannot digest the ingredients of chocolate as easily as we humans can, but they do seem to love it just as much as we do. And it’s not just dogs that will hunt out and steal Easter eggs. Cats, rabbits and rodents will too, and it is toxic to them as well as to dogs.
We know that many animals have a much better sense of smell than we do. There are giant rats in Africa that are trained over many months to detect land mines. They can find mines and clear minefields far more efficiently than any other means thanks to their amazing sense of smell.
Other giant rats are trained to detect the disease tuberculosis by sniffing spit samples from patients suspected to be infected.
We are all familiar with the use of sniffer dogs, who can be trained to detect illegal drugs, explosives, fugitives or even money.
So it should come as no surprise that, if they are this much better than a person at locating things by their scent, they are always going to be amazing at detecting concealed chocolate.
The good news is that it is possible that your pet may not need veterinary attention over the long weekend, even if they do nick the eggs. There are useful online chocolate toxicity calculators you can check before calling your vet.
Just type in the weight of your dog, and the type of chocolate to decide what needs to be done.
Depending on the type of chocolate - white, milk or dark, and the amount they stole, they may just experience a stomach upset and some hyperactivity.
In the worst case, they might experience fever, high blood pressure, a racing heartbeat and then convulsions. Luckily fatalities are rare.
So, have a lovely Easter, but, please, keep your pets and your chocolate safely away from each other!