Most owners can rattle off "chocolate's bad for dogs" without thinking about it. Fewer could tell you why grapes are just as dangerous, or that a sitter watering the garden could be putting a snack-motivated dog within reach of something genuinely harmful. This is the list worth actually handing over, not just assuming a sitter already knows.
The short answer
A short list of common foods — grapes, raisins, chocolate, xylitol, onions and garlic, macadamia nuts — cause serious, sometimes fatal reactions in dogs, often in amounts far smaller than owners expect. If your dog eats any of these, the advice is the same regardless of quantity: call your vet or a pet poison hotline immediately rather than waiting to see if symptoms appear.
The foods that matter most
- Grapes and raisins. Even a single grape has been linked to sudden kidney failure in some dogs. There's no known "safe" amount, which is why the standard advice is zero tolerance — if your dog eats any, call a vet straight away rather than monitoring at home.
- Chocolate. Dogs can't metabolise theobromine the way humans do. Dark and baking chocolate are the most dangerous, but any amount of any type warrants a call — this isn't a "small piece is probably fine" situation.
- Xylitol. A sugar substitute in sugar-free gum, some peanut butters, baked goods and even some toothpastes. It triggers a rapid, dangerous drop in blood sugar and can cause liver failure — worth specifically checking the label on any peanut butter used for hiding medication, since some "natural" brands contain it.
- Onions, garlic, leeks and chives. Toxic in any form — raw, cooked, or powdered — and the effect is cumulative, meaning repeated small exposures add up over time even if one bite seems harmless.
- Macadamia nuts. Cause weakness, vomiting and tremors, generally without being fatal on their own, but still worth an urgent call.
What to actually tell your sitter
- Where any of the above are kept in your kitchen, and whether they need to be stored somewhere your dog genuinely can't reach — not just "up high," since a determined or food-motivated dog is often more capable than owners expect
- Whether your dog is a counter-surfer or bin-raider, since that changes how much active management a sitter needs to do versus just storing things safely
- Your vet's number and the nearest 24-hour emergency clinic, already covered in your emergency card, but worth mentioning again here since this is exactly the scenario it exists for
- That "call immediately" means immediately, not "keep an eye on them" — symptoms can be delayed by hours, well after the window where treatment is most effective
Human medications: the one people don't think of as "food"
This category doesn't fit neatly under food, which is exactly why it gets missed. Painkillers left on a bedside table or dropped during a morning routine are a genuinely common cause of poisoning, not a rare fluke.
- Ibuprofen (Nurofen, Advil, Motrin) is extremely toxic to dogs, even in small amounts — a dose as small as half a standard 200mg tablet can cause toxicity in a 25-pound dog. It causes stomach ulcers, gastrointestinal bleeding, and kidney failure, and symptoms can take a few hours to show up, which is exactly why waiting to see how they seem isn't a safe approach.
- Paracetamol (Panadol, Tylenol) is toxic too, despite not being an NSAID — worth treating with the same caution as ibuprofen rather than assuming it's the "safer" option.
- Never give your dog any human pain medication, and never assume "it's just a small dose" makes it fine — the margin of safety is much narrower for dogs than for people, and toxicity is dose-dependent on your dog's actual weight, not a rough guess.
- Tell your sitter exactly where medications are stored, especially anything on a nightstand, in a bag, or anywhere a curious or food-motivated dog could reach if a packet's dropped or a bag's left open.
Dogs are less prone to houseplant grazing than cats, but garden access changes the picture — mulch, certain flowering plants, and anything treated with fertiliser or snail bait are worth flagging if your dog has unsupervised yard time. If you know of a specific plant in your yard that's a problem, say so directly rather than assuming it's obvious.
If it happens anyway
Don't wait for symptoms, and don't try to induce vomiting at home without professional guidance — it's not always the right response and can make things worse depending on what was eaten. Call your vet, an emergency clinic, or a pet poison hotline, and be ready with what was eaten, roughly how much, and when.
Why this belongs in the handover
Nobody hands a sitter a list of household toxins because it feels excessive for a normal stay — right up until it isn't. The alternative is a sitter sitting there at 11pm with your dog and a half-eaten something, typing frantically into ChatGPT or Google trying to work out if it's actually fine or if they need to panic, instead of already knowing the answer and just making the call. A sitter who knows exactly what's dangerous and where it's stored can prevent the problem entirely, rather than reacting to it after the fact.
Quirks & All keeps your vet's details and emergency instructions on your dog's profile, so if the worst happens, a sitter isn't searching for a phone number while the clock is running.