So, I apologize for dropping the thread of my previous Off Topic conversation. Believe me, I deeply appreciate all the wise and thoughtful advice on trying to remedy my social problems. It's been a pretty stressful time at work, so that has exacerbated the situation a bit - with personal and work stresses, I know I'm feeling the loneliness more intensely.

Anyway, in the middle of this busy week, my naughty hound dog snatched something off the ground while we were walking from work to our bus stop before I even knew there was something edible to grab. She knows "leave it", but if I don't spot something until after she finds it, it's all over - she'll snatch it and gobble it up as quickly as possible. I swiped her mouth and found that it was a partly chewed up mushroom. I got as much of it from her throat as I could, and called our vet (of course, their office was closed, but they have an on-call person) and animal poison control. Both strongly advised taking Lucy to a vet within an hour or so, and inducing vomiting, since toxic mushrooms (especially chewed up ones, since I couldn't find any others) are very hard to quickly weed out from the "safe" ones. For all I knew, it could have been garbage/from someone's discarded lunch; I never realized how much food waste people just chuck into the bushes before I got a totally food-and-scent obsessed beagle/basset.

After a rather expensive week (since she'd already had her annual exam/shots at the vet, and the poison hotline costs money as well), Lucy was fine. The mushroom probably was safe to begin with, and the vet thinks I got most of it with my hands before she could swallow, but it's just better to be on the safe side with a potential toxin.

We've had her for just over one year. Hooray! As much of a stinker as she can be, she is really a sweetheart. So cuddly and loving, and so willing to work hard for food. We have a lot to work on still, but our whole family has come so far in a year with all of the training we've been through.