Routines...

You know, it's truly interesting what we dogs learn - just from watching one another.  AND how we learn routines...

Every day, our feeding routine is the same.  My human gets our food from the garage, while Frodo barks incessantly at her to hurry up.  And she repeatedly tells him to be quiet.  Clearly it isn't working.  She brings in our bowls and we watch as she adds a bit of water to our kibble.  Or sometimes something else - like some yogurt. Or blueberries.   And then we go to our "assigned" meal locations - Elroy is fed in the hallway, on his own and Frodo and are are fed in different areas of the kitchen.  And Elroy knows where his place is.  So when my human finishes adding water or whatever to our bowls, he runs to his spot.  And he sits.  He has learned that he gets nothing if he jumps around like a crazy dog.  Not only does he sit, he waits when my human puts down his bowl.  He sits.  And he waits.  Until she says it's OK to eat.  And then he dives in.  And he learned this with very little training.  I think he learned by watching me and Frodo.  He was kind of slow with his eating when he first arrived but I think when he watched Frodo and I vacuum our food, he also figured he should do the same. So he no longer wanders around when eating.  He is given the "OK" to begin and he never stops.

We have another routine at night.  Just before bed, my human goes to the treat jar and gets out 3 treats.  Then she instructs Elroy to go to his crate, which he does by following her.  She tosses in his treat and he is set for the night.  Then Frodo and I get our treats and we are free to sleep wherever we choose.  Generally ON our human's bed.  On Sunday, during the day, Elroy discovered for the first time that he could get on my human's bed.  And he thought it was great.  He would also have enjoyed eating the pillows if allowed to stay on his own.  So Sunday night, when we all went to the treat jar at bed time, my human quickly noticed that the Friendly Giant wasn't there.  Where WAS he???  He had been right there in the kitchen two minutes before she went to get the treats.  A quick search found him.  All snuggled up on my human's bed.  And he did NOT want to get off.  Talk about learning a new routine. Very quickly.  Unfortunately for him, my human feels that at just over 5 months old, the crate is the best place for him to sleep.  Especially if SHE is going to get any rest.

Now if he would just learn to bring BACK the ball when it is thrown.  Something tells me he eventually will...