I am firmly believe they can. Animals are not stupid. Far from it. And if they decide to take a bit or three or five anyway, they'll probably end up vomiting it out. I have a lot of monkshood and probably a lot of other things considered "poisonous", and my dog freely roams the property. She is alive and well.

I've gardened with an assortment of dogs all my life and with the exception of munching on some grass or scarfing up any low lying raspberries they could reach, they have never bothered or eaten any plants. First, dogs are not vegetarians and don't have a lot of interest in most plant material.....unless it smells like steak :-)) They may nibble out of boredom or because they are puppies and that's just their nature. But I think disliking the taste generally makes them spit it out. In most cases, they need to consume a fair amount of toxic parts to cause a reaction.

Why in the world would you think your dog would be interested in eating aconitum???

Thought so. Sometimes when I walk my dog we come across wild garlic and he sniffs it probably because of the strong smell but avoids it. But yes I think when my dog nibbled on my plants he was just simply bored or trying to grab my attention. I’m not saying he would be interested specifically in the aconitums, just worried that his random nibbling can happen to be one of my aconitums. He did that to my plants that I was right next to. But I think I’m pretty confident now he is smart enough to sense the dangers in a plant.

Oh, I don't know about that and whether it has to do with intelligence. Many years ago, our border collie (CGC, some agility, obedience, and taught to do flyball with zero natural ball drive.... very smart girl), chewed up and ate some Sago Palm nuts. We almost lost her, but veterinarians saved her life that weekend.

The vet said he'd seen Sago palm poisonings before. There was a whole "poison hotline" for pets/animals back then. I am not sure it exists now, but dogs will eat every manner of poison. I think it is more appropriate to ask your local vets what they see.

I mean, you'd think dogs would hear a rattlesnake and somehow instinctively "know" to stay back.... but no, that's not the case. People around me pay a lot of $$ to have their dog "trained" to stay away from them. And on my Nextdoor, there are dogs who are bitten every year.

Well mine enjoys grazing...but invariably voms it up pretty quickly. Supposedly a smart collie but I watched in astonishment as she chomped an entire aquilegia down (ended up under the table very soon afterwards). I will say one thing - she would turn her nose up at chocolate, cookies or crisps (offered by fond but witless grandchildren) so there's that. Have had dogs all my life...and usually allowed pretty free rein - none have ever made themselves ill but not sure I would take this as an act of faith as I have also been astounded at the eating habits of some dogs- particularly some working breeds where the appetite gene has been suppressed (labs, spaniels, etc...supposedly done to make them biddable).

https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/genetic-variant-may-help-explain-why-labradors-are-prone-to-obesity

the survival of the species .. in the wild should indicate some truth to the premise.. that they know something.. lol...

train your dog properly.. and you will never have a problem...

they should stay out of the garden proper.. use paths.. and as i walked out every morning.. i would find and hand the dog a stick.. and that would be our daily game stick... he would play and chew on it all day ... when he wasnt napping in a path ...

same with the kids.. lol ... for Gods sake.. you have 4.5 acres to play in.. gtf out of the garden... here's a stick.. go poke you brother... and leave me alone..

ken

ps: one of the dogs would poke me with the stick.. when he apparently needed some attention.. so i would put everything down.. and chase him for a few minutes.. hmmmm.. seems i did the same with the kids..

Now that you guys say it.. my dog will definitely eat chocolate if I were to bring a piece up to his nose. Maybe he knows plants aren’t a food source since we never fed him plants and he just knows that thats not something he would look foward to eating. Sorry to hear you almost lost your dog, glad she made it though. I once considered having a sago palm as a housplant, I’m glad I didn’t. Usually my dog and my family dog who stayed at my dads house but comes over every weekend roams around the yard and lays on the grass. It’s when I’m doing work in the gardens that they will come next to me and my one dog starts doing all sorts of silliness like digging up soil, grazing on plants thats next to me, rolling on mulch.. I throw him a stick or a ball across the lawn and he goes for it but ends up coming back to me to disturb my work -_-