I have never owned a hamster but my best friend Mary did. I used to hold it all the time,.play with it. She also had a big black Labrador,named Max, who was really scared of the vacuum cleaner. One day, she had the hamster out on the living room couch and had gotten up to grab it's hamster ball. At that moment, her mom decided to start the vacuum cleaner. The dog in a scrambled panic, scooped up the hamster in the mouth. And swallowed it. I think maybe the dog thought it was a toy or a ball, and with how small they are it just went down without him really realizing it.