Odd Question about Dogs and Toads

When I was a kid I had a beagle that always attacked porcupines and never learned. I had to pull the quills out of him with pliers a couple of times each year. A toad hound would be preferable.

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Originally Posted by janeothejungle

It's highly unlikely you have cane toads (unless you're an aussie), I was making the 'addicted to the lick' comparison.......


Cheers,
kat

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Thanks! I was hoping my assumption that they were an Australian problem was correct, but I don't know enough about 'em to be at all confident in what's what and where they all live.

It's extremely disconcerting to see your beloved pup frothing at the mouth and all the assurance I can get that it's not dangerous will be comforting.

I grew up in S. Cali. and we had a swimming pool. Often toads (and less often, frogs) would get in our pool. I have no idea what kind of toads they were. Anyway, one of our dogs loved getting stuff out of the pool. We never were able to train him to be one of those dogs that would jump in and swim after stuff, but he'd lean over the edge as far as he could stretch and get various floaty toys.

One day, one of the "floaty toys" he pulled out was actually a toad, and after that it was sort of like he had a love/hate affair with them. He'd bark at them if they were too far from the edge and/or dove to escape him. He'd grab them and spit them out on the edge of the pool as fast as he could and shake his head until the foam flew everywhere. He'd foam at the mouth unbelievably, since he was a dog that tended to be rather drooly anyway. Often, since he dropped them right on the edge of the pool, by the time he was done shaking his head, they had jumped back in the water, so it would start all over again.

Other than rescuing the toads out of the pool a few times a day, so they wouldn't drown and/or get hurt by too much chlorine, and releasing them on the far end of our yard, we didn't interfere much. He was a birding dog breed and had a "soft mouth" and never seemed to hurt the toads. He never seemed to get sick. It was hilarious to watch.

I don't think it occurred to any of us that his fascination with the toads might be due to him getting more than just a foamy mouth from the chemicals toads give off. I just assumed it was because they were more fun. They'd dive or swim away, so they were harder to catch than the pool toys, and they'd jump back in the pool all by themselves!