A Trash Warning

Don't be fooled by the pretty face.
Jedi is a bad trash dog.

Jedi and I came home late Monday evening after training class. I heard him rustling in the front bathroom while I was putting things away. I caught him with a mouth full of toilet paper. Yuck. (Jedi loves toilet paper and Kleenex, especially if it's used.) I took the toilet paper out of his mouth, fed the dogs a late dinner and we went to bed. I thought nothing else of it.

 

The next morning I found Jedi hacking. Nothing came up so I assumed his stomach was upset because he had a late dinner. I asked Hubby to watch him and I went to work. A couple hours later Hubby sent a picture to my phone. Jedi had thrown up a tampon. Apparently one of my son's friends had wrapped it up and stuck in the bathroom trash the night before. I didn't even know it was there! Besides being grossed out I was a little horrified. What if it hadn't come up? What if it had become lodged in his intestinal track? By the way, this isn't a rare occurrence. If you Google "dog ate tampon" you'll get five pages of hits! Probably the most helpful one was Four Things to Know if Your Dog Ate a Used Tampon. I hope you never need to know these things.

 

Is it Jedi-proof?

When I got home from work Tuesday evening Hubby and I went on "The Great Bathroom Trash Can Hunt." We needed a can heavy enough that Jedi couldn't knock it over. We also needed one with a lid that he couldn't open. This was not an easy find because Jedi uses his nose and his feet all the time. We Jedi-tested every trash can we could find. I'm sure it looked funny to those passing by to see two grown people pushing, slapping, and shoving garbage cans in the housewares aisle. It took a while but we finally found a can that looked promising. And we found it at Wal-Mart of all places. This rectangular trash can is made by Better Homes and Gardens. It has a heavy foot pedal and a lid that fits inside an outer lip, making it harder to nose open. At $25 it was a bit pricey, but we bought two anyway (one for each bathroom -- just in case). I keep telling myself that surgery to remove an embedded tampon would cost much, much more than $50. Unfortunately, finding a trash can for the kitchen has proven to be more difficult. Any suggestions? -- K