This is a good site that should tell you everything you want to know about the Tapioca Plant: Manihot esculenta Family: Euphorbiaceae (spurge family) Common Names: cassava, manihot, manicot, yuca and the following is from this website: by Jack Sheper

The most unusual and the most exciting plant that I scored from Steve on this visit was a cassava (Manihot esculenta), a tropical plant from whose tubers tapioca is made. I got one from him several years ago and grew into a huge exotic looking plant with big bluish leaves. Since cassava is killed back to the ground when it freezes here, I overwintered some 18 in (45.7 cm) long pieces of stem under a bale of straw. Come spring the stems are planted with a few inches poking from the ground. In a week or two they sprout and grow rapidly from there. Unfortunately the stems must be flavorful and delicious because the puppies quickly found them, pushed the bale away and chewed them up causing me to be cassava-less until now. This fall I'm going to pot up some stems and keep them protected from frost - and from puppies.

However, I also read the following:
WARNING
All parts of the cassava plant are poisonous and must be processed by peeling, pressing or cooking before eating. It is reported that the Caribbean Arawak Indians committed suicide be eating raw cassava rather than face slavery under the Spanish invaders.

So I don't know about how the puppies could live if it is that poisonous.