Vienna - Vets in the Austrian town Bad Goisern had to deal with an unusual case of a severely inebriated labrador, a local newspaper reported on Monday. Last Friday, a concerned dog owner arrived at a pet clinic with three-year-old labrador "Dingo." The dog was swaying heavily and barely able to walk, Oberoesterreichische Nachrichten newspaper said Monday.
Tests indicated a blood alcohol content of the 40-kilogram animal of 1.6 milligrams per 100 millilitres.
The dog had however not guzzled one drink too many, but according to its owner, stolen and secretly devoured half a kilogram of fresh yeast dough from the kitchen.
The unusual snack led to more than digestion problems for Dingo; alcohol was formed inside the animal's body due to the yeast's fermentation process. The dog was completely drunk.
Drunk Dingo presented a pitiful sight, Carl Hofbauer, the vet looking after the intoxicated labrador was quoted as saying in reports. His charge had been barely able to stand on its own four paws and needed to be held up when walking. Moreover, the dog smelled like a beer hall, the vet said.
Determining Dingo's state had been a challenge in itself: "Obviously, I could not use a breathalyzer, so I had to take a blood sample and have it analyzed in a lab for human samples," Hofbauer said.
Dingo's owner, who uses the labrador as a hunting dog, was not overly concerned by his dog's alcohol spree. "Nasty people often say that we hunters are often drunk, but in my case it was the dog," he said.
