Good Dog Gone Bad

Let me tell you about our miniature poodle called Bear. He’s a good little dog: loyal, loving and sweet, but sadly, he’s an addict. As with all addictions, it began with an innocent mistake.

One day I put some Honey Nut Cheerios in the palm of my hand and offered them to Bear in place of his usual treats. His reaction startled me; gobbling them up in a nano second, he began to jump up and down, spinning around in circles over and over again with his tail wagging so furiously I thought it would come unhinged. Thinking it was funny and kind of cute, I gave him some more. That was the beginning of his downward spiral. He watched intently as I put the box back on the shelf and every time I walked near the box, he was right there, jumping, spinning and wagging, begging for more, more, more. That evening I showed my husband Bear’s crazy antics and reaction to the Cheerios and we shared a good laugh. Little did we know, he was hooked…

It’s now a year later and we are locked into a ritual: every night at 10pm, Bear jumps up on the sofa beside me. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think he was wearing a watch. He fixes his eyes on my face and stares and stares until I finally get up and go for the Cheerios. If there is one thing I have to say on his behalf, he’s very consistent, acting the same way he did the first time he ate those things: jumping, spinning, trembling in anticipation, etc. Nothing has changed except for one little wrinkle: I now make him work for those Cheerios.

He gets some from my hand but then I put some under the sofa, chair, ottoman, low shelves on the console and the list goes on. He’s like a vacuum cleaner as he ferrets out all the hiding places until not one crumb is left.

As far as we know, there’s no rehab for dogs so we have decided to enable his habit because cold turkey is not an option. Perhaps one day we’ll find something to wean him away from his addiction. We’re thinking Lucky Charms… Would you like us to publish YOUR PET STORY? Click Here!

Posted by Judy from the United States of America