Heart Like a Dog

The Good, the Bad, and the Oh My God of living with dogs!

Food Fight…Day One Hundred And Thirty Eight

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We’ve had a couple of incidents in our house that revolved around food; trouble is I wasn’t certain until this weekend.

I wasn’t even really sure what happened the first time or who was involved.  I did know that I had two dogs waiting for breakfast in the kitchen and one cat crying in the doorway.  I had my back to them and I heard a growl and a snap and when I turned around Sampson was on the floor, Delilah was in one corner and Bob the cat was in the doorway.  I wasn’t sure if one of the dogs went after the cat or if one of the dogs went after the other one.

The second incident happened Friday between Delilah and Bob.  I was making pizza in the kitchen and Bob was crying in the doorway for food.  I opened the pantry door and Bob thought he might check it; trouble is that is Delilah’s job (at least according to Delilah.)  She told him verbally and with her body language that the pantry was off limits.  Naturally I told her to back it down.

The third and defining incident (at least for me) happened this morning.  We feed our dogs the raw diet, which consists of ground meat at night and turkey necks in the mornings.  Because we buy in bulk, every three weeks or so I have thirty pounds of turkey necks defrosting in my bathtub; today was one of those days.  Of course the door to the bathroom has to be shut tight, otherwise Delilah would be in there eating frozen turkey necks; all thirty pounds.

I went in this morning to package up the defrosted necks and naturally Delilah came with me, but this time so did Bob.  I saw her turn and let him know once again that he was treading on hallowed ground.  That was when the light bulb went off and I realized the dogs are becoming a bit possessive with Bob about their food.  At that moment, Delilah and Bob were banished from the bathroom while I did what I needed to do. 

Now I know what is going on and as the saying goes, “Knowing is half the battle.”

I think I will try feeding Bob first in the morning so he is out of Sampson and Delilah’s space, and if necessary I will implement a “No dogs in the kitchen rule.”  We can’t have the dogs going after the cat.

Wash, Wash, Wash The Dog…Day One Hundred and Thirty One

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There’s a little brook that runs along the side of the field where we take the dogs to play; it’s a dirty little brook but the dogs love it.  They love to run through the brook and occasionally Sampson lays down in it.  I’ve been trying to catch it on video but have been having a hard time with it until today.  I uploaded it to youtube tonight, but let it buffer for a minute or so before watching it; because I’m pretty new to this youtube stuff. (I also got Delilah’s agility run up and the video of how excited Delilah gets when she gets her dinner.

The problem with the dogs running through the brook is they get absolutely filthy!  So every time they go in the brook, we have to wash them off when we get home.  What I started doing was washing them outside.  I take an empty dog shampoo bottle, fill it with warm water and put a squirt of shampoo in it.  We then use the soapy water to wash them quickly and rinse them off with the hose.  Then we dry them off and let them in the house. 

I’m happy that the warmer weather is coming so they aren’t outside freezing, but the water from the hose is still cold!  Although as Chet pointed out, the brook isn’t warm water and they willingly go in there. :-0  Still I am calling the plumber to see how hard it would be to get an outside shower.

My Dog is a….Counter Surfer (GASP!) Day One Hundred and Twenty Six

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We never had to worry about counter surfing with Sampson, there are only two things that I know of that could possibly make Sampson get up and take something off the counter; filet mignon (and who could possibly blame him for that) and butter.  Yes Sampson absolutely adores butter!  In fact, that is the nickname that my sister and niece use for him.

Delilah on the other hand, gets a 10 in counter surfing.  Delilah will go onto the counter or even the stove for food.  I can’t tell you how many times I have been standing at the sink preparing something and turned around to find Delilah standing at the stove eating something that is cooking!  She has taken hotdogs and chicken right out of pans!  A couple of years ago I was doing some Sunday baking and Delilah ate 3/4 pound a butter, wrappers included!  I waited all day for her to get sick but would you believe she didn’t?

This picture is of Delilah after she got into the pancake batter, while she had already licked off most of the flecks of batter, if you look closely you can still see a few.

Batter Up!

So what can you do if you have a counter surfer?  There are a couple of things you can try such as “scat mats” which basically provide an electric shock or emit a loud noise when the pet touches or comes in close contact with it.  Or you can make your own deterrent, once I put some tasty treats on the back of the counter and then in front of the treats I placed a cookie sheet that had about 6 clean soda cans, that I had filled with pennies.  The thought process is when she goes up on the counter, she will knock the cookie sheet with the penny filled cans down and the noise will scare her enough to keep her off the counter.  Delilah knocked over one can and still got the treats. 

So when that doesn’t work, what do you do?  In my opinion,  a good offense is your best defense.  Don’t leave anything out that you don’t want your pet to eat, don’t tempt them and set them up to fail.  Because they will.  Therefore, we try to never leave anything on the counter or if we have to, we put it as far back as we can.  When I cook dinner I usually make enough for us to take lunches the next day, so in order to avoid having Delilah eat our lunches, we make them before we sit down to dinner. 

Naturally if I see her up on the counter, I tell her “No” and I make her get down, but realistically, Delilah will probably always have food issues and the best way to make all of our lives peaceful and stress free, is to take a little bit more time and make sure that we all win!

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