By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

I was pretty cavalier about cocoa-bean mulch before I got my sweet Cavalier, Lucy.  I knew that the mulch contained trace amounts of theobromine.

And that theobromine--the same ingredient that makes chocolate dangerous for dogs--is a cardiac and nervous-system stimulant that is toxic to dogs. 

But I also knew the dogs would have to eat vast quantities of the stuff in order to makes themselves ill.  And surely they'd have the good sense not to do that?

In retrospect I realize I based my experience on cats.  My two outdoor cats co-existed with a hemlock plant for several years.

Though they nibbled on lots of other green leaves in my garden, they turned their backs on the hemlock from day one. 

They seemed to instinctively know it was bad news.  I thought dogs would be at least half as smart.

Now that I have Lucy, though, I realize she'll eat anything.  And that my sweet pooch is a glutton.  She'll keep eating until I stop her.  So eating herself sick seems like a distinct possibility.

So, though I've always loved the smell of cocoa bean mulch and the way it kept snails away from my young seedling plants, I've stopped using it. 

True, the evidence of cocoa mulch having actually killed even one dog is pretty slim.  (Many initial reports have become suspect.)  But there is plenty of evidence that if a dog eats enough of the mulch it will get sick -- diarrhea, vomiting, tremors, elevated heart rate.  And I don't want to put Lucy through any of that.

If your dog has "indiscriminate eating habits", avoid cocoa bean mulch, advise ASPCA and veterinarian groups.  Now that I understand dogs better, I can't help but wonder, doesn't that include all dogs?