Can I feed my dog chocolate?

Q Can you settle an argument we’ve been having in the beaters’ lunch hut? Is it ok to give dogs chocolate at lunchtime or not?

A VICKY PAYNE replies: Ideally, dogs should not eat chocolate made for humans because it contains theobromide; harmless to us but toxic to dogs. In practice, milk chocolate contains quite small amounts and many ‘chocolate bars’ don’t actually contain much chocolate anyway. However, I would always suggest taking a more suitable snack such as cooked sausages or Pemmican bars for a high fat/high protein lunchtime snack for dogs but the odd bit of Mars Bar shouldn’t do any harm. Just ensure that if your dog gets a taste for chocolate you keep it stored out of reach at home.