So a couple of weeks ago I was in the backyard with our dogs, Boudreaux & Roux when I noticed some mushrooms coming up in the grass. I thought “Hmmm… should I get my camera?” Well I didn’t act on that thought until a week later after that patch of mushrooms were replaced with even more and bigger mushrooms.

Get the camera, tripod, and macro lens to capture some pics of these very nice sized mushrooms or in slang terms: caps, ‘shrooms, & toadstools. The dogs were naturally curious in what I was doing so I suffered a few broken ‘shrooms due to paw abuse.

After getting a few choice pictures, I thought I would share. In writing this post, I thought I would figure out what kind of mushroom these were (’cause I knew you would ask.) and to my surprise, I found out that these mushrooms are poisonous. To people AND dogs! Thankfully our dogs have never shown much interest in eating them but rest assured that I will be diligent in removing future toadstools from the yard. If your dog has already ingested some of the mushroom, read Sandy Moyer’s article on mushrooms poisoning and how to help.

Below are the three pictures of the different stages of the Amanita phalloides mushroom. This might help you to identify this bad ‘shroom from a good one.

1st stage of growth

2nd stage of growth

3rd stage of growth

So… if you see these little caps growing in your yard and you have dogs, please remove them. If not for you, do it for Fido’s sake!