Just around the corner to us is Fantastico Pizza. Being so close, and making such delicious pizzas, we must exercise considerable self-control in order to avoid the consequences of over indulgence! While we can rationalize this quite logically, it seems a pretty hopeless task trying to get Ray to understand.

Soon after Ray decided that he was going to live with us, and had moved in (see About Me page), we ordered a pizza for pick up. When we got there later, they saw Carol outside with Ray and questioned the situation as they had not seen us with a dog before. I gave them a brief overview and learned that they were very sympathetic towards rescued dogs and were very supportive of the Oakville & Milton Humane Society. They then asked if they could give Ray some pepperoni slices! Thinking that Ray would probably enjoy that, we introduced Ray to pepperoni. We really don’t think he tasted the first slice because it was inhaled in a fraction of a second. The following slices disappeared in much the same manner after which we headed for home carrying our pizza.

The following day, when taking Ray out on his walk, he headed in the opposite direction to his usual route (he was heading away from “his” park). At the end of our street he made a decisive turn and, a few moments later, we were standing outside Fantastico Pizza once again! He stood facing the glass door and just stared at it. With some coaxing (bribing), I managed to get him moving again and we continued on our walk. This became a regular occurrence however, although there was never anybody there at the time that we passed, it didn’t stop him from checking it out.

Over the course of time, we picked up a number of pizzas from there and, each time, Ray was given a few slices of pepperoni. It was now clear that pepperoni slices were one of his favorite foods! The morning walks became a little more balanced in that he would often head to “his” park, and go directly downtown, and sometimes he would pick a route which would take him past Fantastico Pizza. He seemed to have grasped the idea that evening walks past Fantastico Pizza were far more fruitful than morning walks. This however presented a problem over one weekend when we took Ray out for an evening walk.

Ray’s logic was flawless. He was going to pass Fantastico Pizza and would therefore get really yummy pepperoni treats but, of course, he was totally unaware that the store was closed due to the owners taking a vacation. He stood at the front door just staring into the dark and empty store. As is his routine, if standing and looking cute doesn’t work, then he sits …………… which he did! The next step in the “feed me” process is to lay down and be patient ………….. which he did!

He lay there for quite some time and positioned himself such that nobody was going to arrive, or leave, without him knowing about it. Eventually, and with a little help from a treat (and probably a realization on his part that there was going to be no pepperoni slices this evening), we continued on our walk.

Perhaps if we had taught him to read, he could have read the sign on the door?