A friend sent me this warning.

Please be careful with garden products and your pets... This is true and frightening.

Thanks to Sam Fox of Wild at Heart for forwarding this information:

Even if you don't have a pet, please pass this to those that do. Yesterday one of our dog agility friends experienced a tragedy and wanted me to pass a special message along to all of my dog loving
friends and family. Please tell every dog and cat owner you know.

Over the weekend the doting owner of two young lab mixes purchased Cocoa Mulch from Target to use in their garden. They loved the way it smelled, and it was advertised to keep cats away from their garden.

Their dog Calypso decided that the mulch smelled good enough to eat and devoured a large helping. She vomited a few times which was typical when she eats something new but wasn't acting lethargic
in any way. The next day, Mom woke up and took Calypso out for her morning walk. Half way through
the walk, she had a seizure and died instantly.

Although the mulch had NO warnings printed on the label, upon further investigation on the
company's website, this product is HIGHLY toxic to dogs and cats.

Cocoa Mulch is manufactured by Hershey's and they claim that it is true that studies have shown that
50% of the dogs that eat Cocoa Mulch can suffer physical harm to a variety of degrees depending on
each individual dog.

'However, 98% of all dogs won't eat it.'

This Snopes site gives the following information:

Cocoa Mulch, which is sold by Home Depot, Foreman's Garden Supply and other Garden supply stores, contains a lethal ingredient called 'Theobromine' .

It is lethal to dogs and cats. It smells like chocolate and it really attracts dogs. They will ingest this stuff
and die. Several deaths already occurred in the last 2-3 weeks. Just a word of caution, check what
you are using in your gardens and be aware of what your gardeners are using in your gardens.

Theobromine is in all chocolate, especially dark or baker's chocolate which is toxic to dogs.

Cocoa bean shells contain potentially toxic quantities of theobromine, axanthine compound similar in
effects to caffeine and theophylline. A

Dog that ingested a lethal quantity of garden mulch made from cacao bean shells developed severe
convulsions and died 17 hours later. Analysis of the stomach contents and the ingested cacao bean
shells revealed the presence of lethal amounts of theobromine.

Be aware that theobromine is contained in every chocolate product.
The darker the chocolate the more theobromine. 3 oz of bittersweet (plain)- chocolate can kill a medium sized dog.