Dogs are great at looking like they deserve a bite of your dinner. Most plain, simple human foods are fine as a tiny treat, but a handful are genuinely dangerous, and a few of them hide in everyday things like hot cross buns, sugar-free peanut butter and the stuff in the kitchen bin. The checker below sorts common foods into three groups so you can decide in a few seconds.
Tap a food to see what vets and welfare groups say.
Call the vet foods can poison a dog, sometimes in small amounts, and signs can be delayed by hours or days. If your dog has eaten one, phone your vet straight away. Don't wait for symptoms to show up. Best skipped foods aren't necessarily poisonous, but they can cause blockages, stomach upsets or a painful inflamed pancreas, so there's no good reason to hand them over. Small treat foods are usually fine when they are plain, cut small and a small part of the day's food.
Grapes, raisins, sultanas and currants can cause kidney failure, and the amount that harms a dog is unpredictable. That includes hot cross buns, fruit cake and mince pies. Chocolate contains theobromine, and darker chocolate has more of it. White chocolate has little, but it's fatty and can still make a dog ill. Onions, garlic, leeks, shallots and chives damage red blood cells, and cooked dishes count too, so the leftovers from a stew or a curry are not a safe bonus.
Xylitol is the one people miss. It's a sweetener in some sugar-free gum, sweets, baking products and a few peanut butters. It can make a dog's blood sugar drop fast and, in larger amounts, harm the liver. Always read the label of anything sugar-free before it goes near your dog. Raw bread dough is a double trouble: it expands in the stomach and the yeast makes alcohol.
If your dog eats something on the "call the vet" list, ring your vet straight away, even if they seem fine. Don't try to make them sick yourself.
Stay calm and move the rest of the food out of reach. Phone your vet or an emergency vet clinic and tell them what was eaten (the product name or ingredients help), roughly how much, and when. Take the packaging with you if you're asked to come in. The vet decides what happens next. Please don't try to make your dog vomit at home, because that can cause other problems. This guide can't tell you whether a particular amount is safe, and neither can a quiz. Only a vet can.
A simple routine beats a long list: check the food in the checker or ask your vet, give a tiny plain piece if it's on the treat list, and keep everything else out of reach. Teaching a solid "leave it" helps too, and it's rewarded with something your dog loves, so it's friendly for both of you.
Welfare groups don't always agree on every borderline food, so when sources differ we go with the more careful advice.