A story about a pet’s annoying habits ....

My Sunny is a lovely dog, cute, placid, sweet-natured - and I love him dearly, but yes, he has some annoying habits.

You already know how he insists on tummy rubs while I’m tying my shoelaces. Well, he still does it.

Tummy rubs while I am trying to put his harness on? He still does that too.

He doesn’t allow birds to settle in our back yard. He can’t relax if there is a bird on the grass. They are in his space, and flying in his airspace - so he chases them with a sharp bark. They then sit on the fence and look back at him, laughing. When he’s not looking, they enjoy his large outdoor water bowl for a splash pool, almost emptying it every day.

I’ve mentioned his rolling over snails to squash them … he still does that too. That’s sometimes my punishment if I go out without him. The horrid smell. The need for baby wipes, and a bath for him as soon as possible ... after I pick bits of snail shell out of his coat. I think my punishment is excessive.

He won’t drink water out of any of the bowls belonging to his female doggy friends at the Therapy Dog venues – their bowls are pink! But he is quite happy to share HIS bowl of water with them. His bowl is grey. I must never forget to take his small grey bowl with me. He doesn’t want to get “girl germs”, does he?

I once mentioned that he decided not to eat out of his food bowl anymore. For some obscure reason, which obviously made sense in his doggy brain, he decided he would only eat directly off the children’s plastic placemat with the picture of a waterfall. Or at least it WAS the children’s placemat. Now it’s his.

Previously at dinner time, the placemat was placed on the floor and his two bowls, one for egg and one for food, used to sit on the placemat next to his large water bowl.That was in the past. A bowl is fine for water. A bowl is fine for whisked egg and milk. But not for his main dog food. Even the same bowl that holds egg is not acceptable for holding dog food. I've tried serving them one at a time in the same bowl.

For several months now I have not been able to persuade him to eat from his bowl. His food MUST be on the placemat itself. He would rather go hungry than eat food from his bowl. Sometimes he missed several meals. So I ended up giving in, and placed his food straight onto his special placemat, alongside his bowl of milk and egg. I couldn’t let the poor dog starve, could I?

Trying to convince him to eat reminded me of persuading toddlers to eat their food. A battle of wills.

Last night I had a small victory.

I took away his placemat. I found a small grey plastic tray, the size used by airlines, and put a small plate of food on it. We were having sausages, which he loves, so I cut up a small amount of sausage and added mashed pumpkin.

He looked at me very suspiciously. He checked the plate of sausage and pumpkin on the plate on a tray. I could see he was sorely tempted to eat. He walked over, examining it carefully.

This was not right! Where was his placemat? He was very suspicious, sniffing his food several times. I held up a piece of sausage and showed him. Finally, and with great hesitation, he gave in to temptation, and began.

He ate all his dinner from a plate on a tray! I was delighted. I had won the battle!

Tonight, he had another plastic plate on his grey plastic tray. But he wouldn't eat his dog food from it. He required sausage again. Dutifully I gave him some more sausage. I can't let him starve, can I? If we have steak or chicken, I am sure he will only eat from a plastic plate on a tray IF it has steak or chicken on it. 

I can see his skills at manipulation. Human food please. I'm too much of a pushover, I know.

I am expecting that he will require appropriate crockery  next - a proper plate like ours, not a plastic plate! And probably cutlery very soon too, so I am trying to decide if plastic cutlery will be good enough for him, or whether I should get out the best silverware. Will a paper napkin satisfy him? Or do you think I should bring out my fine linen napkins?

No, I don't think I have won the battle after all. It's like a game of chess ... and I am hopeless at chess.