Sprite (our 15 year old puppy) has quite a regimen in the morning… or should I say “I” have that regimen?!? She keeps me on my toes… everything has to be punctual, and everything in the correct order. (She didn’t used to be like this!)
When it is wet outside, I have to carry her over the muddy area of the yard which is right up against the house. Our oak trees provide too much shade for the grass to thrive. When we moved into our house over sixteen years ago, we made sure to plant evergreen oaks so that they would shade the house. We simply hadn’t thought that too much shade makes grass difficult to sustain. We had wonderfully thick grass until our oaks grew to be so enormous that they now provide the shade we wanted from them, at the price of grass.
Anyway, Sprite loves the feeling of the mud in between her toes (or should that be paw pads?) Of course, on days when it is raining, this is a big drag for me. I have to stay right with her while she’s outside, unless I want to give her a bath… That’s how much she loves the feeling of mud.
After she comes inside, we get down to business! By this, I mean that I have to cajole her to swallow two very small pills. Sprite doesn’t know any traditional dog tricks… She doesn’t roll over on command, she doesn’t “shake” her paw with anyone, she doesn’t even sit on command. But, she does have one trick>>> She can find a little pill inside of whatever you wrap that doggone thing in… She will peel the food right off of the pill inside her mouth, and then spit it out.
I have tried to outsmart her, but, apparently I don’t have dog psychology down! She is the one with the psychology-thing going! She knows that if she spits the pill out, she will get another (and then another!) morsel of food with the same little pill. And she takes these two little pills in the a.m. and then again in the p.m. Double the fun for me!
