Journeys of Discovery
Journeys of discovery begin with stories. Stories begat questions. Questions begat stories. I have stories which spawn questions I’m hoping you all can help answer. Though I was told this week that good questions have no answers. They merely set us on journeys of discovery which last a lifetime.
Blah, blah, blah. This story is about a dog who acts like a three year old. If it’s a lifetime journey, I’m in big trouble.
Our first Aussie, Clee-o, was the smartest dog I’ve ever owned. She learned quickly. She was smarter than me in some ways. And boy howdy was she sneaky! Clee-o loved the cats’ Meow Mix and would eat it every chance she got. We did everything we could think of to get her to stop. Just when I’d think she was no longer eating the cat food, I’d find that she was being sneaky about it.
Finally, when she was about ten years old, Clee-o figured out that if she waited for us to go to sleep, she could sneak into the kitchen and eat the cat food. I’d be nearly asleep and hear her chomping down on cat food. Stinker.
She got in trouble for sneaking out to eat the food, so she got even sneakier. Clee-o would wait until we were asleep and would sneak into the kitchen and eat in stealth mode. Seriously. I caught her eating one morsel at a time. No greedy gulp and noisy chew. Silently picking up a piece at a time.
We never did get her to stop eating the cat food.
All Aussies Aren’t Created Equal
Flash and Patches don’t care about cat food either way. They’ll eat it, but this house has a pantry with a door, so the cat food lives in there and the cat just meows when it’s hungry. Works great. But that’s not our sneaky problem. Oh no.
Patches, almost from the beginning, doesn’t come in when I call her. She’ll come in for everyone else, just not for mom. Does your dog do this? She hides around the corner, thinking if I can’t see her, I won’t realize she’s not coming in. I have to walk out and around the corner.
Sometimes Patches will be standing in the middle of the yard, has had plenty of time to do her business, but as soon as I call her, she looks at me and starts to poop. She takes FOREVER, as if to say, “Go back in, Mom. I’ll let you know when I’m done.” Or, “I can’t believe you would interrupt something so important. Do you MIND?”
I swear, she’s like a toddler.
I bring this up because this morning she dragged it on for an eternity. Because I dumped out a container of Christmas soup out in the back corner of the yard and she wanted to eat that soup.
Ordinarily I don’t mind if the dogs get some leftovers. They eat dog food about 90% of the time, so I’m okay with it. But the Christmas soup is a sauerkraut soup. And we don’t have a dog door. Believe me when I say that Christmas soup will NOT contribute to constipation. And the last thing I need is a dog using my bedroom carpet as a toilet in the middle of the night.
Y’all, how on earth do I deal with my dog who acts like a three year old child? Please, someone tell me that you have this behavior figured out. I wind up angry at a dog, for Pete’s sake.
I’m not a big fan of journeys of discovery. (This post has been gently recycled, but Patches, at nearly 15 years old, still does this)
Discovering a Giveaway
Speaking of a journey of discovery, come discover Jones Natural Chews center bones! We’re giving one lucky dog this all natural beef bone. Dogs know the difference. They totally get that Jones doesn’t add ingredients. They get the meaty bits clinging to that bone. Enter now by clicking this sentence, then scrolling to the bottom of the new post and commenting, following the instructions in the box. Your dog will thank you.
Spreading the good chews …
Flea
