Saturday, September 25, 2010

Another Petey Treat

Tuesday afternoon, John, Petey & I went to the bank. When the teller was about to send the receipts back, she asked if we would like a treat for our dog. John agreed even though we both knew he would have nothing to do with it.

When the tube came out, Petey was in John's lap before he could get the tube in the car. It was as if he understood the exchange and knew that a treat was in there for him. He put his nose down in there trying to get it out himself as if he'd never had a treat before.

Once he got it out, he was hugely disappointed. It isn't as if this is a new situation. It has happened before. Again, he held the treat in his teeth without letting his lips touch it. It looked like an old man with a cigar. He decided that the only course of action was to bury the treat. It took a while to find just the right spot inside the car, but finally he settled under the floor mat in the back seat. After the treat had been safely buried, he got in my lap and watched where we were going, with an expression on his face that said, "What treat? I know nothing about a treat."

We got home and went inside without getting the treat out of the car. I thought several times about going to get it but never at a time when I could, so the treat remained in the car.

On Thursday, Petey and I were alone in the car driving from our house in Green Hills to a destination north of town off of Dickerson Road. The best way to go is on the interstate and it was about 5:30. I questioned my sanity for even making the trip at that time of day on the interstate, much less making it with Petey, but it had to be done. We hadn't been on the road very long when I heard Petey scratching around in the backseat area. In a minute he hoped up in the front seat with his treat/stogie hanging out of his mouth. I had to laugh at him. I'd even forgotten about the treat by then, but not him.

It became quite important to him to find another, better place to bury the treat. It is a difficult task to find just the right place to bury a treat. He bounced and bounded from one place in the car to another, scratching and clawing, trying to make a hole. It could not be done. He briefly considered burying it in my purse but decided against it. I was laughing hard at him by this time and more than a little concerned about explaining the ensuing crash to John & the police. John might understand, but the police never would.

Then he got the idea to bury it under the front seat. That was beyond hilarious. A plastic grocery bag had found its way under the seat and it needed a lot of scratching and clawing. I could see Petey's rump and stubby little tail sticking out from under the seat but the rest of him was under that seat working as hard as he could. Then I began to wonder what would happen if Petey got stuck trying to get out from under the seat. Petey is the type of dog to panic first, ask questions later. I was vigilantly watching for breaks in the traffic in case I needed to pull to the shoulder, put on the flashers and pull Petey out from under the seat. Thankfully, that didn't happen. Nor did he bury the treat under there.

We got to our destination, and got John who drove us back home. Petey once again got the vile, nasty treat and began to look for a place to bury it. Maybe by this time, he was thinking it was like a bad penny, always turning up. I put it in the cup holder and closed it. Petey really didn't like that, so I got it back out and handed it to him. It got dropped between the seat & console. It took a while of coaxing, but I showed Petey that he could get it from under the seat. Once he figured out what I was saying he got the treat, and ATE IT! Problem solved, treat gone, we can all move on with our lives, right? Wrong.

Yesterday John & Petey came to get me at work. One the way home I noticed Petey scratching around in the back seat. I mentioned to John that I thought Petey was looking for his treat again, and John said he'd done that all the way to get me. I tried to explain to Petey that the treat wasn't in the car any more because he ate it. I think he had a hard time believing me because he knows he doesn't like those things. We made it home, and so far we haven't let Petey in the car today. We're not sure what might happen.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

oh what a hilarious picture that makes in my head. Definitely a page in the Petey Book for CHildren must be dedicated to the biscuit search and rescue.

Jan