Boogie and Food

January 16, 2008 at 2:09 am Leave a comment

Posted Date: : Jan 16, 2008 2:30 AM

Boogie is an odd little doggie. Unlike other dogs I have lived with, he is so UN-motivated by food. He doesn’t eat dog biscuits. He sniffs them and walks away. He’s not crazy about most doggie treats, preferring soft chewy food items, like the chicken/beef/pork/fish that you are having for dinner. Whenever I give him a chewy doggie treat he takes it from my hand, deposits it on the couch or on his chair, and returns to eat it later “when he feels like it”. There is still a treat inside his kong which has been there for weeks.

The first time I mixed canned pumpkin in his food (to firm up his poo), he sniffed his bowl, glared at me and walked away. Now he will eat pumpkin but probably with some reluctance, knowing that there ain’t nothin’ else…

It’s so strange having a dog that does not follow me each time I walk into the kitchen. Jazzy used to run into the kitchen at any given opportunity and snort for treats… she would even kick the fridge door. Rocky would bump into everything in my apartment but had no trouble finding the kitchen doorway whenever there was somebody in there. George used to sit in front of me every two minutes after learning that “sitting = potential treat”. Not Boogie. He doesn’t really care what goes on in the kitchen. Even when I fill his bowl with breakfast/dinner, I have to call him (away from his toys) to come into the kitchen to eat…

Which makes it tricky for us to train him to “sit” or “stay” or do any number of things that dogs would normally do for a treat. He will sit, but only on his own terms… I had to train him to “sit” by withholding and offering toys instead of treats. Success rate… er… maybe 50%. Being completely TOY-MOTIVATED, there is nothing he loves more in the world than his four or five icky tennis balls, squeaky cuz ball, red bow wowser ball, wubba toy, furry platypus, furry half-disembowelled echidna, two kongs, half-chewed plastic chicken leg and Everlasting Treat Ball. Nothing else matters.

See that bone? He had no interest in chewing on it. It was another “fetch toy”.

When Boogie sleeps, he likes to have his toys close to him. Sometimes he sleeps on top of the toys. It no longer surprises us to find tennis balls in our beds. It can’t be comfortable lying on top of hard objects, but look at that face! He is like the happiest most peaceful little cherub in the world….