The Poop Dilemma
Sue: There's just no way to put this nicely - one of Pearl's worst habits is eating poo. She'll eat her own, but I've also seen her eat poo from cats, birds and cows. Yes, cows.
Pearl: Cow patties are yummy.
S: I've heard lots of theories about why dogs will eat their own poo. Some say puppies have to compete for food and the runt learns to eat poo to survive (Pearl was the runt I believe). Others say they are hiding their poop from predators and still others say they are lacking certain vitamins. But I have my own theory: Pearl is a piggy.
P: I even have a curly tail.
S: Exactly.
P: And I snort.
S: Puggie, piggie...we've also heard all sorts of ways to get rid of the problem. The most recent one is to put meat tenderizer on the dog's food. Apparently there is some ingredient in the tenderizer that dogs don't like and so when it comes out the other end, the dog won't be interested.
P: That wouldn't stop me.
S: Yeah, that's kind of what figured, but to be honest we haven't tried it. What we do instead is try and make sure our back yard is a poop free zone - meaning we pick it up on a regular basis.
P: Mommy and Daddy are pretty mean.
I'm So Excited
S: One truly wonderful thing about Pearl is that she loves, loves, loves people.
P: They smell good and give me treats.
S: The only problem is she gets so excited when she meets a new person, that she goes ballistic. She jumps up and snorts and if she is on her leash, she races in and out of the person's legs. As you can probably imagine, this causes problems not to mention injury. When she's on the lead, I reel her in when we approach others, but at home it's very difficult to control her.
P: People think I'm cute.
S: They usually do, but not everyone likes it when you jump up. And the worst part is, if someone is allergic and we must keep Pearl away from that person, guess who Pearl will not leave alone FOR HOURS!
P: The person who's allergic?
S: That's right. Pearl hates to be ignored, but on the other hand, she's also kind of independent so once the person succumbs and gives Pearl a few pats, Pearl will be off to chew her bone.
Licking the Floor
S: This probably drives my husband more crazy than it drives me but on an off day, it can still make me loopy. It's not just that Pearl licks the floor, she obsessively licks it. If the sun is shining in at a certain angle, you can actually see the tongue marks going all around the kitchen.
P: Don't forget the carpet.
S: She also licks the living room carpet - basically she'll lick any surface she believes has come into contact with food either in this lifetime or in the lifetime of the dinosaurs.
P: Those dinos left big crumbs.
S: And apparently so do we.