Germans and Gingerbread

This gorgeous gingerbread house is not the one I made. I found it here.

I was telling my mom this story tonight, and she suggested that I blog about it. So here you go.


Christmas of 2000 found me living in Utah. My oldest step-son had just come to live with us (14 at the time), and I had a very sweet and smart 2 and 1/2 year old German Shepherd.

I had decided I wanted to build a gingerbread house from scratch. I put a lot of time and effort into measuring and preparing to make sure it was just perfect. It baked perfectly - not a single crack. As soon as it was cool, I started assembling.

Once the frosting holding all the walls and roof together were set up, I started the fun part - decorating it. I had already chosen Andes mints for the roof. I loved the idea of the striped brown/green/brown look for the roof "shingles". I spent probably an hour getting all the mints on the roof. It looked gorgeous! I had to start getting ready for work, so I set the house in the middle of my dining room table with plans to finish decorating when I got home that night.

I was just getting out of the shower when I heard "Zeus* NO!" My heart dropped. I hurried out of the bathroom to find the gingerbread house in pieces on the floor with frosting everywhere. While I had been in the shower, my step-son had gone downstairs for something. The dog had taken his chance to go after the gingerbread house. I was horrified at all my work being destroyed, but not nearly as horrified as I was when I realized that half the roof as gone - including all that chocolate!

I was quite thankful that the other half of the roof was intact, and I quickly counted the remaining mints to see how much he had eaten.

THIRTY Andes Mints!

I called the vet, panic in my voice, while I said to the receptionist "I have a problem." She had already started chuckling a little as she said "Let me guess. Your dog ate chocolate."

The calm and humor in her voice put me a little at ease. It may not be as bad as I had thought.

What kind of dog is it?
German Shepherd

What does he weigh?
90 pounds

What did he eat?
30 Andes Mints


...I thought she was going to die laughing. She laughed so hard! I felt soooooooo much better.

So then she told me I needed to get some ipecac and hydrogen peroxide. I was supposed to take the biggest serving spoon I had and force a spoonful each of peroxide and ipecac down his throat. If he hadn't thrown up in 10 minutes, I was supposed to do it again!

So I hurried to the pharmacy and bought ipecac (I already had the peroxide), then I came home and gave my baby his medicine. I finished getting ready for work, and after 10 minutes, nothing had happened, so I dosed him again as instructed. I told my step-son to call me at work when Zeus had thrown up, and I left for work.
After a couple hours, I still hadn't heard anything, so I called the house.

Has he thrown up yet?
Nope. He just keeps belching!


That crazy Zeus never did throw up, just had the burps all day long. It's my own fault. He was my spoiled baby, and since he was little, I had always given him gingerbread cookies whenever I made them. He was also EXTREMELY smart, which came in handy when it came to training him, but not so handy when he wanted to do something he wasn't supposed to do. (The process of keeping him locked in his kennel when we were away from the house was insane because of his super intelligence. He was a Houdini Dog - and could get out of anything!)

I still gave him gingerbread cookies every year, but I haven't attempted making a gingerbread house since.


*His real name wasn't Zeus.