When we were taking a trip with Magdalena last fall, she managed to escape from the hotel room for a romp around the parking lot. I ran out after her as the main street through town was at the edge of the parking lot and I didn’t want her getting run over by a car.
She decided that this was a game and playing ‘keep away’ was more fun than any dog ought to be allowed to have. The more I called her to try to get her to come to me, the more she danced away. The she went around to the other side of a pick up truck parked several spaces away from our room. Hoping to block her off and catch her I went around the other end to see if I could catch her. We met on the other side of the truck and she turned and bolted around the back end back to the other side. I of course went around my end to catch her on the other side. We did this four or five times, running back and forth. Finally the wife came to the door of our room and called for Magdalena, who obediently loped over to her and leaned against her for pets.
Fast forward to now. I feed the dogs in the evening and while I usually try to feed Magdalena outside away from the other dogs, the nasty winter weather has prevented that. She gobbles down all her food, then shoves Major Tom and Sirocco out of the way and wolfs down their food. Major Tom usually eats most of his food before she muscles her way in, but Sirocco maybe gets a quarter to half his bowl eaten before he gets pushed aside. Not wanting the wee dog to starve to death I played food police to keep Magdalena away.
I put their bowls down and as usual Magdalena finished first. When she started across the room to get the other dogs’ food I blocked her and told her ‘No!’ After doing this several times she went into the living room to sit next to the wife and get sympathy pets. I remained standing guard so the other dogs could finish eating.
Then the wife let me know Magdalena was coming around the far way so I moved to intercept her. She saw me and bolted back where she came from. I went to the other entrance where she would try to get the food and blocked her. “Remember this game? Two can play it” I taunted her.
Again we did this four or five times before she gave up. She seems to have gotten the message that she isn’t going to get the other dogs’ food. I’ll still police things for a few days to make sure it sinks in, but hopefully she has learned her lesson now.
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