Sunday, October 18, 2009

Petey the Tattle Tale

Petey has gone back to his persnickety way of eating. I doubt he's eaten a full bowl of food in three days. We've run through the litany of tricks we have to get him to eat, but to no avail.

Yesterday while I was in the laundry room, doing laundry, Petey came in and insisted on a treat. He would jump on me and run to his treat bag and look at it since it is on a shelf too high for him to get himself. As has already been discussed in this blog, Petey is quite persistent. I wasn't able to concentrate on the laundry with all of the activity around my legs. I really did not want to give him a treat because he hadn't eaten. In my mind, it was like giving a child dessert, when they haven't eaten dinner in three days.

But because I needed to get him to go away, I gave him a treat that was not his favorite bacon treat. In fact, the last time I'd offered him one, he turned it down. He took the treat and trotted off. I figured I'd find it in the house someplace later, but picking up an uneaten treat was a small price to pay to finish the clothes.

Some time later I was back in the laundry room and Petey came in again demanding a treat. I offered him the lesser treat again, thinking he might not fall for it twice, but he took it and trotted off again. This time I decided to follow him so that I would know where to find the uneaten treats later. Much to my surprise Petey was eating the treat, and I found no evidence of the first one. It had been eaten as well.

I told John of Petey's ruse, and we chuckled at how clever he was and went on.

Later, I decided to reward myself with a nice hot bath. We have a garden tub in our master bathroom that will easily fit two adults. It is built up from the floor, so that you have to go up a step to get in it. I was alone in the tub, but taking up the whole space because I was laying in the water with only my face showing and that was only because I needed to keep breathing.

I was enjoying my time of relaxation when felt some one staring at me. I opened my eyes to see Petey staring at me. He had climbed up the step so that his back paws were on the top of the step and his front paws were on the edge of the tub. I explained to Petey that I was fine, since he doesn't like water (baths, pools, etc.) and sent him on his way. He left but came back about every 20 seconds until the calm serenity of the bath was destroyed and I got out.

I dressed and followed Petey in to the living room where I found John enjoying his man type relaxation. He was in the recliner switching the TV between NASCAR and Alabama football. I asked what he'd done to Petey. He said he refused to give him a treat..

This was apparently such a serious offense to the poor dog, that he had to come tattle on him. He didn't get a treat out of me either, but he got us back. He peed in the floor last night.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

So, you're going to have to get sneaky. Wrap some kibble (not a treat) in a lunch bag and tie it up like a present. Let him unwrap it and eat it. Is that so much to ask from Prince Petey? I mean ,really. Food is all about presentation.

Obviously, you're going to have to lock the door at your next soaking bath or bring treats with you. Line 'em up on the step and ta da, you are the favorite parent!

Jan

Anonymous said...

Happy Halloween to Petey. I KNOW his mommy is dressing him up and taking him trick or treating for all the goodies because that's what you do with kids!

Jan