I love it when old threads are brought current. Reading that safety article scared me. I share my sewing room with my parrots, so when my puppy comes in with me he sticks his head in the cage bottom to eat their dropped food (I make a granola mix for the parrots) and doesn't bother my sewing. The only thing that he has eaten is sponges, so we no longer use them - we didn't always out them on the back of the sink and if left near the edge of the counter he would take them to his bed and eat the entire thing. Lucky for us the yellow sponges were visable when he went to the bathroom. No ER visits for us. I do miss my sponge for clean-ups though.