Games we play

For some reason, neither of my dogs will eat out of a bowl. They both grab some kibbles and walk away to eat them. In Cotton's case, he takes one kibble at a time, and goes over to the rug and eats it before returning for another. Tallulah grabs huge mouthfuls of kibble, and chews with her mouth open as she walks wherever she happens to be going. The result is a trail of kibble and crumbs where ever she goes.

Tallulah's OK with that. She doesn't mind the mess. Cotton's OK with that, because he'll find some food nearby when he gets hungry. Me? I feel like it's a constant chore, cleaning up the kibble.

And if I clean the floor, that's the best way to guarantee that Tallulah will eat some more. I've tested it a bunch of times. I have never managed to finish vacuuming the floor of the whole house with Tallulah loose, and not have her leave a trail of kibble on my freshly cleaned floors. I've even tested it enough times that I know that on average, Tallulah will drop 10 kibbles on the floor - not including crumbs - before I put the vacuum away. The only way to get around it is to lock her up while I do the cleaning, but that would spoil the fun.

I'm pretty sure that Tallulah's screwing with my head when she does this. She's smart, and she's got a sense of humour; and this sort of thing is right up her alley.

That's OK, though. I know how to get even.

Tallulah Belle Poodle is a pretty bomb proof dog. There isn't much that she doesn't like, and there's even less that she won't tolerate. But, as much as she doesn't mind having kibble all over the floors of the house, she can't stand to have kibble below her raised bowls. It drives her nuts!

She circles the bowls, she digs at them, she barks at it, and she doesn't stop until the kibble is gone. She has, more than once, knocked over a bowl full of food and the accompanying bowl of water, just to gain access to a stray kibble or two underneath.

So, when she comes in while I'm vacuuming and spreads kibble on the freshly cleaned floor, I don't say anything. I wait until I'm done, I put the vacuum away, and then I gather up all the loose kibbles and put them under her bowl.

Kinda like this:



These are the games we play around here. We're easily amused.