Trash/suffocation warning

I've had dogs all my life, but I had never heard of this happening until my sister called me two days ago. Her dog has always had issues with the trash can in their kitchen- my sister suspected it was a behavior that carried over from her days as a stray. Anyway, her dog found a cracker box in the garbage that had a plastic lining in it. The box got stuck on her head and she suffocated. I feel terrible for her- it's bad enough when a pet dies but especially heartbreaking when it's something that could have been prevented. I know she would have put the trash can out of reach if she had any idea this might happen.

If you have a dog that sometimes goes digging, take a little extra time to get it out of their reach. When I had a trash digger, I always made sure there weren't any chicken or meat bones, chemicals, etc, that might harm him but I can't say that I ever put much thought into plastic bags.

[Jaybay]

Oh what a terrible story!  Every one of our four dogs has tried turning into a "trash can cur"  at some point.  Early on in our dog ownership experience, we converted our trash cans to self-closing models that the dogs couldn't get into - including the bathrooms.  Aside from suffocation issues, your dogs can get fatally ill from eating some of things found in the garbage.  Some dogs are so sensitive that a little extra fat will kill them with pancreatitis.

This story makes me incredibly sad, but hopefully your posting it will remind people to check their own trash cans and prevent another accidental death.  :-(