I woke up at around 3:30 am and heard occasional faint sounds while lying in bed.

I thought at first it was the old house creaking as the temperature was below freezing – we often get the wooden timbers doing that with changes in temperature. I finally decided to investigate because there were just too many sounds. In the living room, I found Ollie beneath the Christmas tree instead of on his cushion. Then I discovered the remains of a present – he’d torn it open and eaten its contents. Shock, horror, it was 200g of chocolate.

So I rang the local veterinarian practice (before 4am)- the vet on night duty told me to give him a full bowl of food then drive to the practice within 15 minutes. I did that, and she arrived a few minutes later to open up the building.

She gave him an injection to bring on vomiting. Ollie duly obliged and the contents of his stomach were discharged onto paper towels that she laid on the floor. After about 20 minutes, he had a further injection to stop the vomiting. He was just sprawled on the floor – he had no power in his legs at all. We had to carry him out onto the grass area by the practice to get some fresh air. I brought him back inside where he got a further injection to help get some power back into his legs. After thanking the vet for her ministrations, I drove him back home, and carried him into the outbuilding where he eats. The vet had given me some active charcoal tablets which apparently absorb the substances in chocolate that are dangerously harmful to dogs. I tried to persuade him to eat some food, laced with the tablets given to me by the vet. At first, Ollie didn’t want to eat anything, and it took a while to persuade him and get the tablets into him.

I then carried him into the house – he was still in a state of collapse – and got him on his cushion. I stayed with him for over an hour; he didn’t want to, or couldn’t, move at all, but at least he wagged his tail to show that he knew I was there. I finally went to bed at around 6am. At 8am he was able to get up – a bit shakily at first, but we went out to stretch his legs and have a pee (Ollie, that is), and he ate his breakfast without prompting. I think we’re out of the woods now, but it was a bit scary – and cost me €295 for the vet’s attention – but I was glad to do it for Ollie.

Four hours later, and after he had a longer walk, he’s now snoozing on his cushion behind me. In future, we will be keeping any chocolate well out of his reach…