If you’re a good dog owner who loves your fur baby as much as you love your human babies (you probably shouldn’t actually admit that out loud!), chances are, you do everything you can to make sure that you are providing them the best life possible. You take them for walks. You share your meals with them. Heck, you even give them starring roles in your iconic holiday card. And, of course, you just have to share your bed with them, too. Which, by the way, is the RIGHT thing to do!

Yep, you always make a point to treat the slobberiest member of your family like the king or queen that they are! That said, humans sometimes fall short when it comes to taking care of their dogs’ needs. And, when we do, our ignorance can mean big trouble for our furry friends.

Take today’s story, for instance. It’s one that, unfortunately, contains details of a dog’s death. It’s a painful tale to hear, but it’s also a very important one that we felt you needed to listen to, especially if you have any beach days planned with your doggy!

Why salt water can be bad news for your pup

A day at the beach can be a lot of fun, but it can also be very, very dehydrating. Sunning in that heat and wading in the waves sure can make you reach for that trusty water bottle again and again. And, if your dog had opposable thumbs, he might just do exactly the same.

Pooches tend to expend a whole lot of energy, running up and down the shore and through that white water. So much so that, according to vets, they have a bad habit of lapping up salt water in failed attempts to quench their thirsts. Now, you don’t have to be a canine expert to know that a dog’s body doesn’t contain some type of magical desalination process. Quite the opposite, in fact.

You see, just like humans, dogs get very, very sick when they drink too much salt water. It instantly dehydrates them, which is doubly bad, considering beach time is not an experience that promotes hydration! When this happens, their furry bodies rebel–they vomit, suffer terrible spells of diarrhea, and, in the worst cases, experience convulsions, organ failure, and/or death.

As you’ve likely surmised, the poor dogg-o at the top of this post suffered this terrible fate. His name was O.G. and he was a 7-year-old black lab from Florida. His well-meaning human, Chris Taylor, simply wanted him to have a great day at the beach, but the pup ended up ingesting too much saltwater and, ultimately, became too ill to recover from the dehydration.

Sad stuff, right? Now Taylor is on a mission to make sure that no other dog or dog owner has to go through this terrible ordeal ever again. To meet this mourning dog-lover and to hear tips on how to prevent saltwater poisoning, straight from a veterinarian, be sure to watch the video below.

Have you ever heard of saltwater poisoning in dogs? If so, has it ever happened to yours? How do you care for your animals on beach days?