Can Dogs Eat Dark Chocolate?

Dark and baking chocolate are the most dangerous forms of chocolate for dogs because they contain far more theobromine, gram for gram, than milk or white chocolate. A dog's body clears theobromine much more slowly than a person's, so it builds up and overstimulates the heart and nervous system rather than passing through harmlessly. Because the concentration is so high, even a relatively small piece can be a genuine emergency for a small dog, whereas the same weight of milk chocolate might only cause mild upset. Baking chocolate and cocoa powder used in home baking are especially risky since they're even more concentrated than a dark chocolate bar. Any known or suspected ingestion of dark or baking chocolate deserves an immediate call to your vet with the packaging in hand so they can calculate the exact dose involved.