Friday, November 7, 2008

Slurp

This is something only a dog owner could possibly be interested in and even then I have to admit it's kinda weird but I'm somewhat hypnotized by the way my dogs drink.

Stella has a very particular drinking ritual which she goes through after every meal. First she finishes up all her food, of course. Then she slurps up some water from her drinking bowl and dribbles it back over to her food bowl and uses the dribble to further clean her food bowl. There's already nothing in there that I can see but she'll continue to transport water over a couple of times more just to make sure that she's cleaned up every last microscopic yummy, vitally nutritious speck of food. Then she walks over to Rocky's water and drinks from his water bowl until she's no longer thirsty.


Rocky doesn't really have a routine but his drinking fascinates me nonetheless because he's the sloppiest drinker I've ever seen. When he drinks, it's like he's just splashing water around inside his mouth and then splashes it out the sides of his mouth. A sieve can capture more water. When I first brought him home from the pound over a year ago, I was sure he was peeing on the floor because of puddles I'd always find around his feed station.


A couple of times Rocky's actually carried a mouthful of water to another part of the room and then, as if to say something, he'd open his mouth and all the water would spill out. I think what he was trying to say was, "Hey, look, I'm a waterfall. Get it? Waterfall? Har har har."

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have one little papillon who loves to swim in the water bowl...don't ever, ever leave a bucket of water unattended. That is amusing BUT downright hysterical is the cat who sits patiently by the water bowl in the bathroom, studies the bowl intensely for a few minutes and then slowly scoops up the entire bowl by pawfuls and sends it flying all over the bathroom. I go through a ton of toilet paper costantly wiping the bathroom floor. Not to mention almost slipping and killing myself on the wet bathroom floor. He also throws the water on his front legs and licks it up. I have asked him exactly what he thinks he is doing but he has yet to divulge the method to his madness. He remains my buddy and one of the loves of my life. I am sure that if any human did this, I would not be laughing nor considering it "cute".

Anonymous said...

Fred, I need your email adress??? I found a dog today wandering my neighbourhood, gorgeous pointer cross. I called TAS and they picked him up. I posted a message on Craigslist about him and some chick responded to me to keep in touch with TAS as they euthanize after 3 days. how can that possibly be true? why are people so misinformed about TAS policies. my dog Blondie was at the shelter for 2 months and came in as a stray. so this rumour can't be true, not to mention the other strays ive seen go up for adoption after completing their wait. Did I do the right thing by turning this dog in?He had no tags and was kinda skinny. He was soooooo sweet and easy to catch. Im worried Fred

Susan

Susan

Fred said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

*snort*

hilarious! I especially love zoom on the puddle at the end of Rocky's vid :D

I feel easily the greatest thing about owning large breed dogs is when you're walking quickly and nearly slip over in a water/drool cocktail.

EEeeeeeek! Oooh, close one...

Anonymous said...

Thank you Fred for outlining the TAS policies and procedures.I aleady knew this, silly me, and should have trusted my instincts.( just got freaked out after KIKI I think) I wish the general public knew more about TAS as there are so many nasty rumours out there and Im constantly having to defend TAS to people when I tell them that I volunteer there. From now on Im not going to listen to anyone else but the staff at TAS and just put my blinders on and stay focussed. Thanks so much Fred.

P.S I think the dog got picked up today yay. Im pretty sure he was the viszla.

Susan

Pps love what you said about the human trap door, such an awsome notion and so true.

Im hoping with the royal on we'll get some farmers in there who want to adopt some bigger dogs and maybe a couple cats. Keeping my fingers crossed this week

Fred said...

Susan: Yes, the Viszla was definitely picked up by its owners. You should give yourself a big pat on the back because you may very well have saved its life by bringing it into TAS.

Fred said...

Repost of November 7, 2008 11:47 comment with corrections:

TAS official policy is that they keep a stray dog 7 days and then do a health and temperament assessment to see if it can be put up for adoption. The only way a dog would ever be euthanized any sooner would be if it was injured and/or sick and in a great deal of pain and even then I'm not sure they would do it immediately. If the dog is healthy and not aggressive, it would absolutely be put up for adoption after its 7 days in the stray holding area. You know the staff at TAS. Talk to them about your concerns.

An abandoned dog is an abandoned dog and faces the same risks as any other. I would think that the risks it faces at TAS are less than the risks it faces wandering the streets of Toronto where it can get hit by a car, go hungry, get sick eating who knows what, so you did the right thing by bringing it in. Maybe it won't be happy but it'll be safer.

I'm going in tomorrow so I can check in on it. There's no dog there that's listed as a pointer. Maybe it's the Viszla? Or maybe its owners have already picked it up.

I'm not going to tell you not to worry but you did the right thing.

Smartypants said...

Fred, catching up on old posts, I found this today. The video of Rocky drinking made me laugh until I cried!