From the news-we’d-rather-not-hear department, comes this tidbit: A small dog -- described in some reports as a miniature dachshund, in others as a dachsund (which we warned you about earlier) -- last week chewed the big toe off his owner while she slept.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Linda Floyd, 56, of Alton, is a diabetic who suffers from neuropathy and has no feeling in her feet.

She took a nap Monday afternoon and awoke to find her dog Roscoe licking her right foot, then realized her big toe, which had been bandaged because of a hangnail, was gone.

An ambulance took Floyd to the hospital and Madison County Animal Control personnel picked up Roscoe. Floyd said that, though she loved the dog, she was concerned he might hurt someone else and agreed to have it euthanized.