A toad in hand...

is a lot safer than in a puppy's mouth, which is where he was heading. I'm not sure whether these baby '10p toads', as I call them owing to their size, are able to secrete the same foul-tasting substance as adults can. It's a defence mechanism designed to put off any would-be assailant who fancies a dinner of toad in the hole. One lick of an adult toad used to make Sydney foam at the mouth. Did it put him off? Of course not, he was a terrier, after all!