Sagepaper

After a few days of giving him pain medicine, our elderly Sheltie has recovered. He learns very quickly, which is both a good thing and a bad thing. He has too many food allergies for us to feed him "people" food, so we spoil him in other ways. This evening, I finished a bowl of left-over tater-tots, and he started acting excited, like he might be given a chance to lick the bowl. I put the bowl in the sink, and turned to go get one of his healthier treats for him.

He whimpered, and looked at me expectantly. I saw that coming days ago. He got a lot of extra attention for whimpering. I just looked at him and said, "Oh, I don't think so!" I went and got him his normal treat.

I learned in reading about dogs that it is very important that they participate in meals. As pack animals, they share the kill. There is some order of dominance in the feeding, but even the lowliest little runt is given something. That's because the pack needs every member. If you finish eating, and your dog gets nothing, it will feel profoundly rejected, and even resentful.

To balance our dog's health problems with his social needs, we have established a routine of giving him a hypo-allergenic biscuit when we are done eating. It works! He takes it happily, and seems satisfied with the arrangement.

We need to get him groomed. He's been a bit overdue, anyway. He did soil himself again, so I took scissors to anything that could get soiled in the future. Now he is shedding clumps of undercoat from his hindquarters. He seemed to like the trimming, though. It's starting to warm-up a bit here in the South.

Thanks for all your concern and support! It means a lot to us!