He's a poodle. He's a sheep (especially right now). He's a Mama's Boy. He's a vacuum cleaner. Sneaky Pete lives in my kitchen, for the most part. He likes his boundaries--unless there is food or a leash calling his name.He started as a birthday present for K about 3 years ago. You know the drill ..."But Mom, if we could just get a dog, I'D DO EVERYTHING! I'd feed him and take him for walks. I'd give him baths and clean up after him ..." That lasted about two weeks. That's when Pete became a Mama's Boy. It was solidified when, practicing that circus-theory that poodles can be taught to dance, I confirmed it. So, yes, now we have a performing act whereby Pete dances on his back tippy toes, nose in the air, every time I sing my made-up lyrics (featuring his name) to the tune of "Meet Me in St. Louis." (Okay, my embarrassing secret is now out.)
Now, this is going to cause some eyes to roll but, poodles really are smart dogs. (I know. I told you.) Petey tends to be ... well ... calculating. It happens most often like this: He's wandering around the kitchen, which is adjacent to our dining room (where the cat's food dish is). T or I will be in the kitchen doing dishes or something--then we leave to go out on the patio or the porch. Pete watches us leave (from his post on the threshold between the kitchen and dining room). Then he dashes into the dining room, scarfs a mouthful of that ever-better-tasting-than-dogfood-cat-chow and runs back into the kitchen to assume the same position he was in when we left the kitchen. (Chewing quickly.) If we happen to catch him in the act, he simply chomps all the way back to his crate and puts himself in "time out" while savoring the last morsels of liver-flavored-kitty-food.
He also has the sit-and-shake (at the same time) thing down well ... when I pull out the bag of goldfish crackers. He's a big Cheerio fan, too. And carrots (but they make him gag). In fact, there isn't much of anything he'll shy away from sampling. Of course, the vet noted that he's about 5 lbs overweight. Hmmm. Wonder why.
