noooooo, not that F word....good goodness get your mind out of the gutter!

I'm referring to F-O-O-D word.

The one word (the W-A-L-K word comes in a close second) that never fails to get my dogs' undivided attention.

They can be outside playing or soundly sleeping.... and if they so much as hear someone crack the refrigerator door or rip open a bag of chips -- or even silently contemplate possibly having a snack...they appear.

these little beasts of mine will do anything for a treat.

sit, speak, jump, shake, high five, make a deal with the devil...you name it, they'll do it.

one very good boy, showing super restraint --next time i want a brownie --someone should make me balance it on my nose while they take my picture. eeks.

they also eat their food in a very specific way -

1st: they eat as if they haven't seen food for days on end, like they are literally on the brink of starvation

2nd: they eat as if the world is going to end in approximately the next 50-60 seconds and they only thing that might save them is if they can ingest the meal before them in 3 bites or less...no time to chew...

3rd: they eat as if whatever they're munching on is the most delicious delicacy they've ever had the pleasure to sample -- as if the little dry protein pellets that they eat twice a day, everyday, all year long -- taste like filet drizzled in white truffle oil served on a bed of caviar

In the totem pole of their existence -- Food trumps ALL.

A couple of weeks ago, the little guy ended up having to have emergency surgery after ingesting a very large piece of a nylabone (im considering staging a one woman protest outside their headquarters - jerks) which his tiny little tummy couldn't work out.

he started displaying some signs of digestive distress (i'm sure you can guess what t i mean by that....) early in the morning -- but it wasn't anything too alarming.
the glaring RED FLAG realization that something was seriously wrong came when i got up to feed them breakfast. this daily morning ritual usually involves me in a semi-conscious state, stumbling around pre-caffeine fix... trying to get my eyes open enough to successfully get one scoop of food in each bowl and get each bowl to the correct dog while they excitedly run circles around my legs.
its a generally a frenetic blur of wagging tails and wiggly bodies crashing around the kitchen.

on this particular morning -- after bowls had been filled, i watched as the big guy happily wolfed down his food in the usual 30.5 seconds...while the little one just sat there, slumped next to his bowl, alternately looking down at the food and back up at me. ears back, eyes sad, tail still.

I flippppppppped my sh*t....

first i got down on the floor and tried coaxing him to eat the food out of my hand -- not interested.

then, thinking that maybe his stomach was upset i ditched the dry food and went for something simple and easy to digest - rice and scrambled eggs. not a chance.

out came the milkbones. no thank you

the beggin' strips. negative

some leftover chicken pieces. a piece of cheese. nothing doing.

i tried spoon feeding him peanut butter. sadly not.

honestly the only thing I didn't try was pretending the utensil was an airplane coming in for a landing....but i gave it a passing thought.

my final idea was maple syrup -- just a little sugary goodness on my finger tips -- which surely he would lick off.

NOPE.

the worst part was, that through it all - in typical dog fashion -- he was doing his very best to make me happy. he would pick up a few kibbles, hold them in his mouth and then slowly lower his head and drop them back in the bowl. Or he'd give the peanut butter (which i was practically shoving in his face) a half-hearted lick before lying back down and resting his head on my lap and giving a defeated little sigh. heartbreak.

this all happened in the span of approximately 5 minutes...
here is the point in the story when i panicked and started using the actual F word

OOOOOOHH FUDGE...
Only I didn't say "Fudge". I said THE word, the big one, the queen-mother of dirty words, the F-dash-dash-dash word!

I'll spare you the details -- the next couple of days were pretty rough.
xrays and iv's and stitches and operations. and a fair amount of crying on my part.

not fun.

the great news is that he came home happy and healthy - like nothing had happened.

he is his normal, energetic, excellent puppy self.

he didn't even have to sport the trademark cone.

his appetite also came back in full force

Since it's looking like we'll be snowed in this weekend -- and we'll probably do a fair amount of baking/cooking/eating...i thought i'd do something nice for the puppies and give making homemade dog treats a try. Found a simple enough recipe and gave it a go.