Hey - Who Moved my Cheese??

From Wikipedia.....

"Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life, published in 1998, is a motivational book by Spencer Johnson written in the style of a parable. It describes change in one's work and life, and four typical reactions to said change with two mice, two "little people", and their hunts for cheese. A New York Times business bestseller since release, Who Moved My Cheese? remained on the list for almost five years and spent over two hundred weeks on Publishers Weekly's hardcover nonfiction list."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Moved_My_Cheese

Little by little Fluffy Friends we are discovering more and more about our pal. This morning was not unlike any other Tuesday here at The Lodge but it revealed just a bit more than we knew before.

I didn't walk the dogs early because I am off on Tuesdays and was going to do it later (in the rain as it turned out). I fed Mocha and Te'a in their usual places in the back hallway. I went out to the garage to get a bowl of Chancey Shandy's chow and as I walked in the door the phone rang.

(As a complete aside, when I was a kid, the phone NEVER rang before 800am. Now, sometimes I find myself chirping away merrily at 630am without even a drop of coffee. Horrors - I know.)

The phone for the kitchen had been upstairs since last Wednesday or Thursday and I went to answer it in the family room instead. Portable phones are wonderful except when they aren't where they are supposed to be. Halfway into the room I realized I still had the bowl of dog food in my hand and set it down where I stood. This is roughly 10 - 15 feet away from where we usually feed Shandy. In the following picture, we usually feed him near where he is laying. In fact you can see the bowl directly behind him. This morning I fed him approximately where that small red piece of paper is in the lower left hand corner of the picture.

As he stood perpendicular to the hallway eating his chow, and I on the phone, the cat sauntered into the room - well, she attempted to saunter into the room. Shandy advised her under no uncertain terms that this was not to be.

I walked over to him while he was still finishing and he continue to make a little growly noise at me. I let him finish in peace and he got up and decided that he was going to be a snot to Te'a. I decided that the best course of action was not to yell at the dog, he was confused that his food bowl was in the wrong place. I talked softly to him and asked him what was wrong. He answered me in a growl. (Just a note that if you look up Beardies on the internet anywhere, it will tell you that they are very vocal doggies.) Case in point, he growled at me. He wasn't displaying any anger or aggression and when I asked him why he was growling at all of us, he growled again and ended it in a whine.

I slowly offered my hand to him - outside of the hand towards him - talking in a soft voice the whole time. As my hand drew closer to him, he stretched out his neck and licked it. Aaaah - good boy. After that he rolled over on his back and let me scratch his neck.

We've all been living together for about three months and I'm thinking we're to the point now that we should be beyond the growling at the food bowl nonsense. When you think about where he's come from - anyone's guess really - he's made magnificant strides. He just needs to know that he's secure - like any of us.

Another part of this equation is that we changed the "formula" of his food recently. As part of the fostering program with Fluffy Dog, we are given several quality bags of dog food to feed to our charges. We blend it up in one of those big bins and feed all of it. I recently created a new mix for him from the bags we have and maybe it's a better tasting blend and he doesn't want to share.

I'm not sure for the reason of the noise this morning but you can be darn sure I moved that bowl back!!

And so, future adoptive family, I know you're out there, when the time is right and you bring this oh so wonderful doggie home, For the Love of Pete - DO NOT MOVE HIS BOWL (or his cheese, for that matter).