Act in the First Minutes
If you see your dog pick up and chew a slug or snail, interrupt her calmly, move her away from the area, and remove any remaining pieces from her mouth only if you can do it without risking a bite from a startled dog. Do not try to make her vomit and do not offer home remedies; the useful moves are observation and a phone call. Note the time it happened, whether she crunched and swallowed or dropped most of it, and whether the slug was on grass, on a patio, or near plants. Check the garden for slug pellets or other chemicals while the details are fresh, and if pellets are used anywhere she can reach, note the product name from the packaging, because that information changes the urgency and the advice completely.
Call the Vet the Same Day and Say Why
Phone your vet or an animal poison advice line promptly rather than waiting for signs, and explain that your dog chewed a slug or snail. The two concerns the vet is weighing are different: slugs and snails can carry lungworm, a parasite whose larvae the dog swallows with the slug or its slime trail, and slug pellets scattered in gardens can poison a dog directly. A single brief mouthing is not the same as eating several slugs or a mouthful of pellets, and the vet's questions will sort out which risk applies. Be ready to say how much she weighs, whether she is current on parasite prevention, and whether that prevention covers lungworm, since coverage varies between products and many routine treatments do not include it.
Watch for the Signs That Matter Over Coming Days
Ask the vet what to watch for and over what timeframe, because lungworm problems develop gradually rather than in the first hour. Signs worth reporting include a developing cough, faster or heavier breathing, unusual tiredness on walks, loss of appetite, and unexplained bruising or bleeding that does not stop normally, since the parasite can affect blood clotting as well as the lungs. Pellet poisoning is a faster, different picture — wobbliness, tremors, drooling, or seizures are an emergency at any point. Keep your dog's garden access supervised until you have spoken to the vet, and scan the lawn before she goes out, especially after rain when slugs and snails are most active and most visible to a curious dog.
Reduce the Chance of a Repeat in Your Garden
Once the immediate worry is handled, make the garden less inviting for both slugs and your dog. Lift slugs' daytime hiding places — damp boards, dense ground cover, and the space under pots — and clear fallen fruit and spilled food that attract them. Rethink pellet use entirely in a garden a dog uses, and ask your vet or a garden centre about dog-safer approaches to slug control. Teach and reward a reliable drop and leave response, because a dog who mouths garden wildlife will meet a slug again on a wet evening walk even in a tidy garden. Jotting the date, what she chewed, and the vet's advice into KinsLe's Pet Passport leaves a dated record in her health packet if a cough or bleeding concern shows up later and the vet asks what happened in the garden.