There are many things in life I love. My family would be at the top of the list. (gotta say that right?) I love my dog bed. I love living in Telluride. I love running around with my dog pals. Sniffing is really important to me too. But you know what I really love? I love MEAT.
Every once in a while I get a bone from Clarke’s grocery store, those old fashioned soup bones prepared especially for dogs. My God I could sit on our patio for hours and hours and just gnaw. The fat is delicious, the crackly bits are divine, and there is nothing better than sucking out the marrow. A few flies landing on my bone doesn’t bother me a bit although my owner has flinched on occasion. Two of my teeth have broken in the past couple years and bone gnawing probably had something to do with it. For Pete’s sake I even had to have a root canal. The Telluride vet must love me by now! My bone consumption went down after that I can tell you.
Normally I just eat dry dog food. Yes, I have admitted, sometimes a bit of pumpkin and yogurt is added but generally it is plain old kibble. The whole food thing got old really quick in my opinion. Sometimes I hear the can opener make its distinct sound and I bound into the kitchen. I don’t get canned dog food very often. My owner wants to chow down on it herself so she doesn’t allow it in the house much. How do I know she loves the stuff? Well, every time she opens a can and that tantalising aroma is released her nose wrinkles up really tight. She makes a big grimace with her lips to keep herself from digging in and having a bite. Not once has she even dared breathe until it is piled into my bowl. Obviously she finds it delectable. What else could it mean?
It occurred to me that I needed to do a little survey around town and see if other dogs feel the same way about meat as I do. Some of the results were a tad surprising to say the least. Before I give you some samples of what I heard I need to add the following. I’ve never had raw freshly caught meat…on the moving bone so to speak. Squirrel would be my meal of choice but those guys are just too fast for me. They taunt me; they chatter and chuckle as they run in front of me knowing I haven’t a hope of catching them. The closest I’ve ever gotten was yesterday! I managed to find a petrified squirrel body in the weeds by the River Trail. The only soft bit left was the fluffy tail. It’s rich flavour was just being discovered by my tongue when my owner pulled it from my jaws. I actually heard her stomach turn over. Cool!
Well the first big dog I surveyed told me that he LOVES meat. Now he looks just like me so I wasn’t surprised. In fact my owner has mistaken this guy for me on occasion and panicked I had gotten loose from the condo! He told me he likes his meat baked, fried, roasted, poached and barbequed. He’ll eat meat any way he can get it.
But his ultimate favourite is STOLEN….right off the counter. He said he has had to do time periodically for his bad habits but it has always been worth it! Stealing has never been my thing. I did stand up on my hind legs once and get a few good licks of the cooked Thanksgiving Turkey…and I got caught! Dilemma!!!! I got sent to my “spot” and she never told anyone a darn thing about it and they ate that turkey down to the bone. So what was the big deal I ask you?
Another dog told me he’s definitely into delicately cooked meat but his owner is into the raw food thing that’s going around. Don’t know this guy well yet but he sure is a gorgeous specimen. The raw thing doesn’t sound that bad actually. We eat what we can get and we are grateful for it. Here’s the best part about that diet. They call the raw food diet BARF. That would tickle my funny bone if I had one. 
It stands for Biologically Appropriate Raw Food and is apparently good for helping us keep our coats nice and shiny Well I think they got mixed up here somehow….we prefer to roll in it to keep our coats shiny, not eat it. But I’m just a dog, what do I know? I’ve eaten barf on occasion and it was no big deal, but I wasn’t allowed to give my owner a dog kiss for days.
Look at this beautiful girl! Bella is her name. Is that a play on words….bella? beautiful? bella? Owners thing they are so smart, don’t they? She’s so petite I don’t think she eats very much at all. No, she said, meat was not her thing. But then how could it be as her teeth a
re so tiny. She was very friendly and highly sophisticated. Dog tea biscuits are her food of choice. Her only problem is she likes them lightly dunked in toilet water but she’s too tiny to reach. She needs a big guy around who can help her with that. Most likely her owner isn’t aware of this preference and even if she was….not going to happen.
Remember how I told you I have a penchant for squirrel? Well the next guy told me on the down low…and was really nervous to admit to anything….he’s got a thing for the neighbour’s cat? He has to be satisfied with whatever dry kibble he gets, but in his dreams he’s chasing that cat and some day, just maybe, he might get her. Oooh… now all you cat lovers, don’t write in to complain about this guy. He wouldn’t even allow me to take his picture in case some of you started sitting out in front of his house protesting. He was honest. A lot of us like cats. They are just too smart for us…yet.
Finally, and you won’t believe your eyes, I met Miss Eloise. She’s a very different type of dog. I wanted to say she’s a different type of cat, as the old expression goes, but that would just sound weird. We ran into each other the other day at her place and had a quick chat. I wanted to include her in my questionnaire results. What she told me knocked me to the floor. I couldn’t believe a word she said. However, when her owner wasn’t looking, she quickly pulled a photo from underneath the welcome mat to prove to me she wasn’t a liar. She’s a bloody vegetarian. A what? A vegetarian! Surely dogs can’t fall into that camp. Her meal of choice is a carrot. You don’t believe me. Here’s the proof. Are you still standing?
I’m still in shock. In fact she left me so speechless that I’m at a loss for words. Therefore, I have to end this post with a video I enjoy watching over and over. This animal knows what counts in life. He may be from the cat family but he and I see eye to eye on many things, although I don’t much like heat. If you listen carefully you will hear that he too loves meat. He also loves space – as do I or I wouldn’t be a dog living in Telluride, now would I? I’d be in some cramped little apartment in Paris, eating foie gras. And now off to find a buried bone….where did I leave that thing? See ya later.
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