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Permalink Reply by Tammey & Caven on March 20, 2009 at 2:07am

Hi Libby, Most of the time Tammey feeds Bear and I guess I usually have my head too deep in my own food bowl to notice what he is doing but a while back I noticed that we have the very same problem with Bear that you are having with Ein.

I was on my way south out of Arkansas with an ice storm on my tail and ,although I was starving, I didn't want to take the time to stop and eat and risk having the ice storm catch up with us. I hate trying to drive on ice and I was in Tennessee or Alabama, I really don't remember where we were but, we were still in the mountains and it was freezing cold, wet, Friday night and traffic just sucked. Tammey had crawled into bed (in the sleeper, I am a truck driver I always assume everyone knows that) about two hours earlier and I could hear her softly snoring over the sound of my six hundred hoursepower engine when I spotted a Pilot Truck stop with a big Mc Donalds sign lighting the parking lot. So, I pulled in and ask Tammey if she wanted any thing. She mumbled something about the cold and sleep and I clearly heard the word "hell" and "I've got a gun" so I just let her rest and ran in and got two twenty piece chicken nuggets and a large coffee.

Back in the cab, I put one of the twenty pieces in the over head compartment to share with Tammey later and opened the other and put it on the dash and a pack of honey mustard in one of the cup holders and was rolling again in under ten minutes. As I left the parking lot I noticed that Bear was watching the Chicken nuggets with a look on his face like he just knew that they were going to sprout wings again and fly out the window at any moment. So, I grabbed one, test bited it to make sure that it was not too hot, and gave it to him. Now this is where it gets confusing for me.

I turned out of the parking lot and start climbing up the entrance ramp onto the highway and up the mountain highway in crappy weather on a friday night and every hillbilly on the road is driving like somebody just screamed last call. Now, I usually don't have any trouble matching the flow of traffic in my truck but, going up hill fully loaded I am having to work it. As I said earlier, I have a great big Caterpillar motor and an eighteen speed transmission so it's not in me to hold up traffic. So, as I am watching the cars whiz by and grabbing gears and am just hammering on it trying to get into the traffic Bear jumps off of his seat and starts nudging my arm with his cold little wet nose. So, between gears, I grab a nugget and slip it to him just as some bubba cuts across in front of me and hits his brakes. I respond by flipping on my jakes, dropping about four gears slipping out into the fast lane, nudge nudge, give Bear a nugget and stomping on the gas. I grab a couple of gears, nudge nudge, give Bear a nugget and then someother bubba realizes that he almost by past the beer store and slams on his brakes right in front of me and cuts across two lanes of traffic just in time to make the exit. I slam on my brakes and drop from seventy to about twenty almost slam into the rear of bubbas pickup, nudge nudge, drop Bear a nugget, and start grabbing the gears again.

I hit two maybe three gears ,nudge nudge nugget, change lanes back to the slow lane and hit a real hard climb. Way up the hill I can see a company truck struggeling to climb the mountain and the cars in the fast lane are just flying past and not a one of them is even thinking about letting me over so I know that I have to squeeze some serious speed out of my truck to get around the truck up ahead or be stuck riding behind him at 25 mph for the next lord knows how long trying to pass, nudge nudge nugget,. Again, I drop a couple of gears and start mashing on it, nudge nudge nugget. Tenth gear I am running maybe fifty so I let it wind up a bit, nudge nugget. Eleventh, twelveth, nudge nudge nugget, thirteenth, fourteenth, nudge nudge nugget,. I am running about seventy five and the truck up ahead is getting real close when, nudge nudge nugget, there is a small opening in the fast lane, nudge nudge nugget. As I slide over into the fast lane I let off the gas for just a moment and let my jake brake bark away the cars that are trying to squeeze between me and the other truck, nudge nudge nugget,. I shoot past the slow truck and jump back into the slow lane, nudge nudge nugget, just in time to see the sign for my exit up a head, nudge nudge nugget.

I swing my truck onto the exit ramp, nudge nudge nugget, and loose a few gears and am just thrilled to see a long dry and clear southbound highway ahead of me, nudge nudge nugget. It only takes me a few minutes to get her up into eighteenth gear nudge nudge nugget, and set the cruise at a nice safe seventy five.

Finally able to relax, I take my first sip of coffee, still hot enough to burn my lips ahhh, and reach for my first chicken nugget only to find the box is empty. When I look over to Bear he has jumped back up onto the passenger seat and is looking back and forth from me to the over head compartment where the other twenty piece is tucked away. On his face is a look that clearly says "Papa, please before they fly away"!

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Permalink Reply by Denise Hawkins on March 20, 2009 at 1:56pm

Can you tell me more about this touch that you used please? Reggie has become a hoover and we are sure he is not tasting anything anymore!

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Permalink Reply by Libby on March 20, 2009 at 5:03pm

First I was trying just a tap on his back near his tail, just hard enough to break the super-concentration he gets on his food, but he was more than happy to just keep chowing away, so I've been giving him a bit of a poke in the shoulder.
Its just enough to make him look up from the kibble and make him finish his mouthful of food. And I think I might be on to something with it, last night at dinner time, I only had to give him a couple touches with the 'slow' command for him to take a few bites then lift up from the bowl for a few seconds. Since I'm usually in the kitchen making our dinner while he is eating his, I backed up a few paces and tried just giving the 'slow' when it sounded like he was getting too intense, and he would lift his head from the bowl most of the time, and when he didn't I would go over and give the correction to get him to lift up from the bowl.

His slower eating last night helped with breakfast this morning, as he hadn't yet finished it before I reached the sofa to sit down.

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Permalink Reply by Ein Danger on March 20, 2009 at 5:35pm

ein does this from time to time but its really with the water that he gulps too fast. when he does this, he always ends up puking everything right back up. it's so gross!!! what i do is ration off his water and if i see him gulping too fast i do that cesar millan "shush" thing to him and he totally backs off. its the only way he'll keep his water and or food down. corgis are kinda notorious for wolfing down food.

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