The Chocolate Prize and the Best Dog That Ever Lived

Today is a day that rivals Christmas, the 4th of July and birthdays, anniversaries and graduations, starting new jobs and leaving bad jobs. You can celebrate anything and everything today because today is International Chocolate Day.

Chocolate embodies the spectrum of joy, from its utter absence in the bitterness of the darkest chocolates to the sweet delight of creamy white goodness or vice versa, depending on your taste. Chocolate, in all its myriad forms and fashions, is an aid to humanity. From chocolate bars to bite-sized candies, rich syrups and powdered cocoa, there is a chocolate for every mood and malady.

Thought to be a gift from the Aztec god of wisdom, cacao seeds were once used as currency. It’s been touted as an aphrodisiac, is thought to help prevent cognitive decline and lower cholesterol and has been found to enhance athletic performance.

All in moderation, of course, because too much chocolate is toxic to humans and pets, and it will ruin a white carpet. My family nearly lost the best dog that ever lived to chocolate.

My daughter had won a chocolate baking contest put on by the local library as part of the summer reading program. She made two sheet cakes and placed them side by side. Then she sliced the tops of them to resemble the curvature of an open book. She frosted the cake top in white with chocolate syrup lines of text and fashioned its sides into page edges. It was marvelous.

And her prize was more chocolate! She won a glass jar of chocolate – it was 5 inches in diameter and 12 inches tall. It was a lot of chocolate.

She took her prize home and curled up on her bed to read a book and nibble on the sweet candies of success. But when she put down the book, she left the open jar of chocolate on her bed – and she left her bedroom door wide open. Enter the best dog that ever lived.

When my daughter returned several hours later, the chocolate supply had been substantially reduced, and her 3-year-old 55-pound golden retriever-Labrador mix was throwing up chocolate on the white carpet – over and over again.

By midnight, I sat anxiously in the lobby of the veterinary emergency room, comforting my 13-year-old daughter while the vet literally saved the life of the best dog that ever lived. The dog’s kidneys were failing.

Fortunately, that sweet puppy bounced right back. The next day, she had far more energy than my sleep-deprived self, and the best dog that ever lived was with us for 11 more years. Sorry to say, the carpet never did recover. We replaced it with hardwood – easier to clean.

So celebrate International Chocolate Day with gusto, as your own health condition allows. But keep the chocolate goodness away from the family dog.