Hey! How about dinner!

I understand that all dogs are routine oriented, and Ray certainly supports that apparent fact. He knows the daily routines and is much happier when his world performs as expected. There are occasions when we deliberately change our routines and Ray becomes confused.

None of this should really be a surprise because aren’t we more comfortable when our world performs as expected? We too can get a little confused when a daily routine changes and, in fact, I immediately think of sayings like “That’s Murphy’s Law”; “That’s put a wrench into the works”; “It never rains but it pours”; “Let’s not cry over spilled milk” (and many more) when the unexpected happens. We really do expect our world to perform as anticipated!

Our routine in the evening is such that around 5:15pm, I get Ray his dinner. He is very good in that he rarely barks for attention, but seems to be quite satisfied with trying mental telepathy with me, so a typical evening involves him coming to find me, and then staring at me with an eye contact technique that could parallel lasers for their intensity! It works!

The other evening I was, as usual, sitting on the side of my bed and working on my laptop. I picked up a movement off to one side and, looking around, I saw Ray. He was standing in the doorway staring at me and sending a crystal clear message – “How about some dinner!”

I glanced down at the time and, in true Ray tradition, he was pretty close. It was 5:10pm. Where on earth did he learn how to tell the time? I really wanted to finish what I was doing so I acknowledged him (“Hi Buddy!”) and carried on working. He stood ….. and stared.

After what seemed like a couple of minutes (it was now just after 5:30pm), I put the laptop to sleep and turned and looked at Ray who was still standing there staring at me. Being silly, I just sat and looked at him and then said “What do you want buddy?” His reaction prompted this Post!

His head tilted to one side (the quizzical “Are you kidding me?” look), and then he took a run at the bed, jumped and landed right in front of me. He moved his head forward and literally butted me in my face with his nose, after which he jumped off the bed and waited for me in the doorway! How could I not follow him? As soon as I stood up, he started moving with his “happy gait” (I’m convinced that he has springs in all four legs), and bushy tail wagging away, as he led me triumphantly to the kitchen!

Ray certainly does like routines and, when things are not panning out quite as expected, he clearly has back up plans … just in case!

12 thoughts on “Hey! How about dinner!”

  1. My stupid brother and silly sisters have a bucket full of food which they can eat out of whenever they get hungry.
    Me, I only eat when Mum feeds me. Same food but in MY OWN bowl thank you very much!

    Liked by 2 people

  2. Like Ray, my dogs know the time. I can’t sleep past 7 on the weekends (I’m up @ 4:30 M-F) as Breck will cry to me to go out.

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Our cat Jake is so routine-oriented especially for dinner that I have a hard time adjusting him when we switch the clocks for daylight savings. That means an extra hour until dinner and he’s not so convinced it’s a good idea.

    Liked by 2 people

  5. Cats are the same. Our Cat goes ballistic if Mom is not in bed by 8 pm. Mom always goes to bed early with a book or some music to listen to. Once Mom is “safely” in bed, the cat shuts up and disappears for her nighttime amusements.

    Liked by 2 people

  6. Dogs and routine. Yep, know exactly what you mean. With Maggie, it’s walks. If we weren’t putting on our coats by 8am, we were being herded towards the front door!
    In the boat she has picked up on a simple ‘tell’ that it’s going out time. Unplug the laptop, close the lid, and she’s ready.

    Liked by 2 people

Comments are closed.