Never Seen It Before

There is a first time for everything. Let's take this morning for example. It appeared to be a normal morning, well normal is relative these days I suppose. A six week old baby is anything but normal. Still though, let's pretend that everything is mostly normal.

I wake up and roll over towards my wife in order to snuggle her, wrapping my arm around her and enveloping her in a stank of bad breath that could kill most living organisms. Normal. My ears are alerted to the steady beat of Leo's tail (pictured above) batting against anything and everything within a 4 foot diameter. It's a vicious tail. Being the good dog owner that I am, I exit our bedroom and step into the friendly confines of Leo's temporary prison. You see, Leo had his second knee surgery a couple of weeks ago, so we have to confine him in this way, else there will be a third surgery before you can say "bankrupt". Normal.

So, now I'm in the pen, stroking Leo's head and telling him in the sweetest of scratchy, morning voices what a good boy he is. Of course, this doesn't mean anything to him. He just wants two things right now - food and a place to go urinate. Normal. I oblige and carefully lead him to the kitchen, where we find his empty bowl next to the door leading out to our garden. I reach down into his dog food bag and scoop out his normal allotment for breakfast. Normal. Now, excuse me while a digress for a moment...

...you see, Leo is known the world over for his ability to consume food. He is equivalent to the greatest industrial vacuum even known - he sucks down anything within nose reach. I don't know how to even explain his ability to consume food. He rarely chews food, after all, that would be a huge waste of time. You know those "indestructible" toys they make for dogs...? They have never tested them on Leo. The guy likes to eat and chew and destroy, so when it comes to eating breakfast, there is little time to waste.

...Back to the story. Remember, the food is in the bowl. The vacuum in the form of a Chesapeake Bay Retriever is hovering over the bowl. Normal. Now, here is the part that leads me to this entry. He puts his face into the bowl and then stops, turns, looks me straight in the eye as if to say "what is the world is this...?" I encourage him to try it and he obliges. He crunches a few times and this time quits completely, walking back to his pen in disgust. Abnormal. I've never seen this before.

I can only attribute it to the fact that he simply doesn't get the attention he used to get - that he is depressed. He misses the absolute devotion of two dog lovers without a six week old baby to get in the way. Poor dog. I hope he decides to eat.