[Lightning&Stomps]

I have several apple trees in my back yard, and ever since we've lived here, Lightning has loved apples. He'll bring a fallen apple into the house, present it to me, we have a little give and take that involves me exclaiming what an exceptional apple he found, then he settles down to eat it. I don't know if he eats any apples outside, but he'll bring four or five into the house a night sometimes. Stomps never once ate an apple (he was more of a traditional dog than Lightning is). Last year we had an ice storm very late in the winter that must have affected the apple trees, because I had no apples. So I would buy them at the store and throw them in the yard for Lightning. He ate them, but even he could tell it wasn't the same.

 

[2hounds]

When I was a kid my parents had 2 apple trees and 2 peach trees. Our dalmation would knock them off the bottom branches of the tree and he and our terrier would eat them. We then put a netting around the tree to keep the birds/dogs from them. Our dalmation would then just wait until they fell into the bottom of the net and then eat what he could through the netting. =)

~Heather

 

[hig4s]

Just a note, apple seeds are not really good for dogs. You should core them before they eat them.

 

[Mikey T]

apple seeds are not really good for dogs.

The amount of cyanide in seed is some minimal to be inconcequential

Bad Seeds

Apple seed

It takes about 100 grams of crushed (crushing causes the "prunasin" or "Amygdalin" to produce the cyanide) apple seed to make a person of about 150 pounds rather ill. This is around half a cup of seeds. To commit suicide using apple seeds you need to crush and eat these seeds fairly quickly, both to avoid evaporation of cyanide from the crushed seeds, and so as not to lose consciousness before ingesting a lethal dose.

 

[Lightning&Stomps]

Believe me, I asked multiple vets about the safety of eating apples, and none could think of any reason why they would be harmful. If anything, I think the adage "An apple a day keeps the doctor away" is true for dogs too. Lightning is so healthy for his age (knocking on wood!), I would recommend everyone give their dogs apples. And Heather, your story is great. That must have been so funny to see.