Ornery Abby
Abby has become quirky over the last few months, often saving her breakfast for dinner. She will look at her food, sniff it and walk away, and for the longest time it would worry me. I googled it, talked to the vet, had tests run and she is a healthy, happy golden. There is no reason she has stopped eating breakfast with the gusto we came to adore. None.
To get her excited about eating (and mostly to stop me from worrying she was going to starve to death), MtnMan started playing a game with her. One that she looks forward to each morning now. She sees me getting her food and she runs to MtnMan and he pretends to hold on to her, not letting her go to her dish. If he doesn’t hold on, she does the whole act of being held against her will and it is quite comical. This works most mornings. She will run to her dish and take each, individual kibble, and slowly chew. When we are in a rush to leave the house, this is somewhat annoying because we have to stand next to her while she enjoys her breakfast. But, she eats, so it is what has become part of our routine.
Friday morning we left the house before sunrise, so I packed her breakfast in her lunchbox and once we were rolling down the interstate I poured her breakfast into her to-go bowl. She nudged MtnMan from her backseat, so he held her snout while pretending to not let her eat. She pried herself loose and quickly sniffed her breakfast and then looked at me before laying down on her bed. It sat there for a bit, so I started to put it back into her lunchbox and she quickly sat up, licking her lips and sticking her head as far as she could, trying to get to her food. MtnMan took a few kibbles, placing them on the console and she whole-heartedly scarfed them down. I poured the food back into her bowl, she sniffed, looked at me and went to her window to stare out at the passing cars. Pfft. I started to put the food back into her box, same reaction. MtnMan laughs and puts a couple pieces onto the console, where she scarfs them down and leaves slobber in their place. What the hell? Again, I pour the food into her bowl, same damn reaction. If I didn’t love her as much as I do, I’d have tossed her food out the window for the coyotes to enjoy! But, as it is, she is my girl and I am just baffled. We repeat the events, food back in box, MtnMan gives her some kibbles, she scarfs them down with gusto and looks at me as if I am the bad guy. This time, however, I put just a handful in her bowl and the same reaction. After I looked away, she smiled at MtnMan; she knew what she was doing. After that I put it away and told her she could starve! She sat there staring at me in dismay for awhile before gruffing and laying down for a morning nap. MtnMan thought this transaction between Abby and me was laughable. He said she’s got my number, and he is right, she does.
Later that day we were enjoying a beautiful view of the snow-capped mountains, eating lunch and she had her deadpan stare locked in on me. I suddenly remembered she didn’t eat much of her breakfast and probably thought I was retaliating by starving her. I poured her food for her and she did not chew much, she scarfed it down before I took it back.
She has become ornery and she loves to make me worry, I am convinced of that!