Dogs and grape vines

[SeriouslyStrongCheddar]

Hiya

We're in the process of enquiring about a rescue dog we'd like to home. In the process of my pre-ownership research I've been looking at the list of things poisonous to dogs and came upon the raisin / sultana info. While raisins and sultanas aren't likely to be a risk to our doggie as we both hate the things, we do have a large grape vine in the back garden that produces lots of grapes each year. So my main question is whether grapes are poisonous to dogs too, pre-drying, if you know what I mean (I'm assuming so but want to check if anyone knows for sure)? Also, out of interest, does anyone know if the leaves are poisonous as well as the fruit?

I'm assuming we will have to remove the vine, hard though it will be as I've been growing it for around 10 years, as I wouldn't want anything to knowingly risk our dogs health.

Could you not separate it off somehow?

It is grapes as well, but they need to have eaten quite a lot more grapes than raisins, wiki reckons 32g per kg of dog...which is about 500g of grapes for my puppy, that seems like quite a lot, lol.

I meant that seems like more of anything than you'd be wanting a dog to eat in the garden anyway.

Ah, thanks tabulahrasa - I didn't think to Wiki, which is weird because I normally Wiki everything!

Hmm, 32g per Kg. Doggie we're looking at is currently 22Kg and looks like he could stand to gain a bit more - that's a lot of grapes indeed!

Can't separate if off unfortunately, but wonder if I trim it back so it produces less grapes and then careful policing of garden use during grape season, combined with timely harvest might be workable.

Ironically, we've just had the whole garden stripped out, re-fenced and turned to lawn etc - the only plant we kept was the vine!

Much thought required, but if it's workable to keep it, and keep doggie safe (assuming we're lucky enough to get him) that would be awesome - however, don't want to take any risks and I guess if / when we're homechecked I can ask the homechecker for their input too.

They are poisonous and in some dogs with certain grapes it is not very much. Famously one of the dogs at Chateau Petrus died from eating grapes.

My dog dug up my grapevine as soon as it got here, no other plant, so it may not be a problem.

What about putting lion poo or some such at the base and just picking them before they fall?

Lonecatwithkitten - is it the same sorts of grapes that cause a greater problem or different grapes for different dogs, if you know what I mean?

UterusUterusGhouli - I could probably source lion poo if necessary, but not sure it'll help as the vine travels a good way round the garden; it's be like the lion enclosure at a wildlife park by the time I'd finished! Having looked out there this morning actually, there are no leaves left on the vine but none of the grapes seem to have fallen - they seem surprisingly secure on the vine given the recent weather! It's planted in the corner of a raised bed so don't think he could dig it up (or us for that matter - think if we have to get rid we'll have to saw it off at ground level and then just keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't sprout).

At least I've got some time to sort out the best solution, whatever we do - not heard back from the rescue re homecheck yet so still time to work it out even if we are lucky enough to get the dog we want.

Seriously - could you give the rescue a quick and polite call to chase up? What type of dog do you have in mind?

doggydaze - I really do want to chase them but am sitting on my hands to be honest! Last contact was last Thursday when they said they'd get back to me this week. I'm giving it until Saturday morning and will then contact them. I'm not the most patient person by nature so am working on improving that (6 month old baby helps!). The dog we're looking at is a cross breed - best way to describe him is looking a bit like a small Great Dane but slimmer build and longer face!

I might be talking out of turn but a friendly call wouldn't harm? He sounds nice though

They've just phoned me! They're arranging a homecheck to see if we have enough space for our dog of choice as he's quite large and have suggested some alternatives if he's not 'the one'. They also need to check if he'll be happy as an only dog and will let me know what his fosterer says.

Excited? Me?

You bet!

Hooray!

It's very exciting isn't it? We are going through the same thing ourselves. I have tried not to get emotional about it all but failed in a spectacular manner

Excellent!
The shelter I used was happy with pics of my garden on my phone. I really don't think they wanted to cone out tbh, or were short staffed. They wanted my Staff on a home ASAP as she was such a lovely gal I think. with undisclosed toilet issues