Food thief …again!

Yes he did it again*!

We were sitting in our kitchen/sitting area having fried eggs and toast for lunch. Ray came to join us as usual. I knew that he was hoping to be given something, or perhaps something would fall, but I just ignored him. If you believed those last 5 words, then clearly you are either new to this blog, or have not been following it very conscientiously.

When we have food, and Ray sits and stares**, it is very difficult to ignore him because he focuses like a laser beam on his quarry. His eyes could be burning their way into my brain coaxing me to give him all my food, or he could be simply trying to teleport the food off my plate and into his mouth! With memories of Star Trek in mind, “Beam me up Scotty” could well be replaced with “Beam it into my mouth Colin!”

With 2 fried eggs and 2 pieces of toast, I (quite naturally?) allocated 1 piece of toast per egg. As I was working away on the first egg, I noticed Ray trying to determine whether to focus on Carol’s plate or mine. He seemed to be more focused on Carol and her plate, which was when I made a giant error in judgement. I let my attention to him lapse for a brief moment.

I was just finishing off my first egg, and corresponding piece of toast, and happened to glance out of the window when he made his move. How 75lbs of dog can move that fast and with such precision amazes me, but move he did. Within a fraction of a second, all I could see of my 2nd piece of toast were the edges protruding from the sides of his mouth!

Normally, he would try and swallow the evidence as fast as possible but, for some reason (possibly the size of it … being a complete slice of bread), he just stood there with the evidence being slightly wider than his mouth. Carol told him off in her most commanding voice (I was still in shock and awe!), and proceeded to try and retrieve whatever she could. He was then told to lie down on his bed in the corner of the room, which he did for a minute or two, and then got up and started walking around. He was told once again to lie down in the corner, which he did …. and then got up and started walking around again. Our 3rd attempt appeared to register that something was wrong as he went to his bed in the corner and laid down, and stayed there!

When we have dinner now, and as a result of Ray’s “hit ‘n’ run” tactics with food, we usually (if we remember) tell him to jump up into “his” chair so that we can eat in peace. We now have to try and remember to use a similar tactic at every meal!

*See “An impressive tongue!” – May 5, 2015

**See “In disbelief!” – June 24, 2015; “A Break in Routine” – September 12, 2015

28 thoughts on “Food thief …again!”

  1. Pingback: Life can get complicated! – A Dog's Life? (Stories of me and him)

  2. I’m sure Ray “knows” it’s wrong but his body takes over and overpowers his brain which is saying leave the bread alone but the body says take it. Is that the case? I don’t think Kali would be so brazen to take food off our plate or the table; at least she has not done so to date but she does have the laser focus you refer to.

    When in the kitchen Kali its on full alert but is pretty good about staying on the permitter much like Ray going into his chair. But her body takes over (matter over mind?) during two specific events and just she can’t help herself. One is when we go the cupboard where the bread is. The reason for this is that when she has to take any kind of pill form medicine I wrap it in a small piece of soft bread and feed it to her. The bread and the pill are in her belly in a matter of a nano-second. So the bread cupboard is a happy place for her. The other is whenever we pull out the chopping board to chop anything from meat to veggies to fruit. One of the reasons for this is that we will usually give her veggies or fruit off the board (never meat) and the other is that the same chopping board is what I use to dice up her training treats that come in loaf. So of course, as with all things, our dogs behavior is shaped by our actions and, a lot like humans, they do things from time to time they know they’re not supposed to do.

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  5. LOL! As much as we don’t like for our doggies to do that it still makes us laugh. Our Princess Leia is also sneaky about it. She waits for the moment you turn around and she doesn’t eat it all to make you question if there is even something missing. LOL

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  7. I had a childhood cat that stole food left out. One time it was an entire pork chop. Another a chicken drumstick. You couldn’t turn you back while setting the table or wap! it was gone! Unlike a dog, you can’t get a cat to take a time out in a corner.

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