Yes, Please!

Each new dog who enters my life teaches me about her preferences for food. What was heaven for one dog is so-so to another but, as my sister says, dogs will usually eat anything when they are truly hungry. When I ask if they want some dinner, they answer, "Yes, please!" with wagging tails and happy grins.

I have always fed my dogs Science Diet dog food, having gotten a tip about it from my friend Wenirs when as an adult I got my first puppy, Daisy, a Springer spaniel. Daisy loved Science Diet and wolfed her portions so fast that we ended up having to put rocks in her bowl just to slow her down - otherwise, she would whoops on the carpet (always on the carpet, never on the easily cleaned bare floor) shortly after.

My next dog Tillie, also a Springer, was very fond of poultry (she was a bird dog, after all, and "pointed" the Thanksgiving turkey each year). Chica, a lovable mutt who strayed into my heart one day was thrilled with any food I gave her, almost pathetically grateful for having found a good home. They both got mostly Science Diet and they ate it with gusto.

Then came Cora. She did me the courtesy of sniffing her bowl of dry Science Diet before turning away.

No, thank you.

So, I added a little water, something that worked like a champ with all my other dogs.

Well, acceptable, perhaps, but not great. After two days of lackluster appetite, she turned resolutely away from that, too. Cousin J-Yah has a yellow lab, Mia, and J-Yah mixes just a little chicken broth with the dog food to whet Mia's appetite. So, I went to my cupboard and tried that:

"Now you're talking!"

She happily crunches her way through SD, but only when mixed with chicken broth.

This evening, looking for a quick and easy dinner after a day of errands, chores and catering to My Beloved who has wrenched his knee, I decided to fry some bacon for fried egg sandwiches. Guess who showed up the instant the bacon package came out of the fridge? She hung around all during the cooking, gazing hopefully from the pan to me and back to the pan. I've been wondering what mix of breeds I have gotten in Cora. Clearly, there's border collie or perhaps Australian shepherd in there, with a bit of some bird dog (she intently watches all birds she encounters) but now I see clearly that what I have is an American Bacon Hound, not a particularly rare breed, but very lovable.