Do I Have to Eat THAT Dog Food Mommy?

Over the past week I've been trying to wean Teddy and Simba from the canned dog food to the dry dog food, made specifically for dogs over 7 years old. According to my neighbor, her vet switched their dog to senior food, and his movement has tremendously improved. Since Simba's arthritis is progressively getting worse, I thought that I should make the switch as well.

Well both dogs are rebelling! I've slowly decreased their amount of canned food. I keep the dry food available to them throughout the day. Occassionally, they will eat a few morsels, here and there, but nothing substantial. I figured, when they get hungry, they will eat. Well, they have been holding out.

Two days ago, Teddy woke me up at 3:00am. As usual I thought he had to go outside. So I hop up, throw on my robe, and follow him downstairs. Teddy went straight to the kitchen and sat next to the refrigerator. I was not a happy camper. I couldn't believe he got me up out of my bed. I guess he was hungry. So I directed him back upstairs where he had a wonderful bowl of dry food waiting. I went back to bed!

Today, after Simba turned up his nose at his dry food, I decided to try a different approach to get him used to his new food. I decided to hand feed him. Oh he loved that! Anything to get more mommy time. Of course I hope that I am not creating another problem of Simba wanting me to hand feed him all the time.

Wish me luck. If anyone has any great tips, I am all ears. Feel free to comment.

The McDonald Syndrome

Over the years Teddy and Simba have provided me lots of love and lots of laughter. Teddy has the personality of a real person. If I had video taped some of his antics, I know we could have gotten on "America's Funniest Video". The story below showed me how close to real kids dogs can be.

The McDonald Syndrome

Teddy is not very fond of any purchased treat that resembles a bone. So when he is alone and offered a bone, he turns up his nose and heads off to do something else. The only time Teddy will accept a bone treat, is when Simba is getting one. Does he eat the treat? Of course not, at least not right away. He scurries upstairs to hide his bone, usually in his bed. He then trots back downstairs, sits near Simba, and intently watches him eat his bone. Once Simba finishes his bone, Teddy runs upstairs, retrieves his bone, brings it back downstairs, and gently places it just out of Simba's reach. He then lays next to the bone. Talk about TORTURE! You can tell that Simba is plotting on how to get Teddy's bone. Sometimes Simba pretends like he's not interested. This reaction never bodes well with Teddy, so he will usually reposition the bone a little closer to Simba. This will go on for about 20 mins. By this time Teddy has usually let his guard down. That gives Simba just enough time to snatch the bone and run off to enjoy his unplanned treat. All Teddy can do at this point is bark at Simba to show his discontent.

I call this the McDonald's syndrome because when we were kids, my mom would take me and my two brothers to McD's occassionally for a meal. Well inevitably, someone would always save some of their fries until everyone had finished their meal. The guilty party would then take out the fries and slowly eat them. This was always torture, if you weren't the one who saved some of your food.

Do you have any great dog stories? If so share them with us.