Dogs and Family

Breakfast time wasn't terribly long ago for the kids dogs (which is terrifying since I know that by the time I post this, we'll be well into lunchtime). We have to feed them separately on account of their wildly different eating behavior which means that if left to their own devices, one would be dying of starvation while the other would roughly have the figure of a basketball.

First came feeding our oldest (or at least the one that has been in our family the longest) dog, Captain Blackbeard. Getting him to eat is always a bit of a challenge. I have to physically position him in front of his bowl and make him stand over it like a child in time out until he gets the message that its time to eat. Its almost as if he feels like he needs to think about what he's done long before he can swallow a mouthful. I could be wrong, maybe he's saying grace and I just don't have any respect, but we'll leave that for someone else to decide. Invariably, Captain leaves about half of his food behind when he's been eating. Then you lead him back to his bowl, and once again he leaves half and walks away. On a good day we repeat this pattern until he is only leaving about 12.5% of his breakfast behind.

Our second dog, Ein is the exact opposite. I have to physically bar her from the kitchen until the food is on the floor. This morning she sat at the door of the kitchen with her head on the linoleum floor and a great puddle of drool expanding underneath her chin. The dog was visibly shivering with excitement by the time I finally invited her into the kitchen to have some breakfast. Doggie seizures of joy! At that point, she began wolfing down her food as quickly as she could, not even stopping long enough to chew the bite that was in her mouth. About half way through her breakfast, she choked herself on un-chewed food and began hacking and wheezing over the dish. Rather than stopping, she resolved the gagging by piling more food on over the top of it, evidently clearing the clog in her throat by force of additional un-chewed food being thrust into her gullet at critical velocity.

It occurred to me that living with dogs like this with such vastly different personalities is like living with my extended family. My mother-in-law, for example, has to think about eating something for a while. It sits on the counter and waits for her, while she wanders around the kitchen; either trying to decipher the rumbling in her tummy, or more likely taking care of the rest of us. Then, when she finally does decide to eat, she invariably cuts the item in half, consumes half, and leaves the other on the counter for later.

Meanwhile, poor Ein eats like my mother does many things in her life. Right after we were married Annie and I went on a vacation with my folks, and dad had over-exerted himself with a little too much hiking on one day of the trip. Mom's response was, "You know what would help you feel better? More hiking!"

Choking on your breakfast that you tried to swallow whole? You know what would fix that? More breakfast! Or, we could go with the other side of the family's solution, and just cut it in half and leave it be.