I have a fun little morning routine with our poodle, Pearl.
Keep in mind that I’m not a morning person, so finding anything fun in the morning is a challenge for me. With the joy our pets bring us, though, the challenge is made easier.
When we first get up we go outside and, while Pearl takes care of business I stroll out to the driveway to pick up The Sun Herald.
Pearl doesn’t tarry because she knows that as soon as we go indoors she gets a Butler Lean Treat with her eye medicine hidden inside. Then I make her breakfast. For 13 years Peyton and Pearl ate Hill’s Prescription Diet t/d and it worked wonders keeping their teeth clean (which, in turn, kept them off the dental prophylaxis table so often!). t/d is a big chunk of food, a little bigger than a peach pit.
While I was making ready for work they would eat, or not, depending on their mood for the day, then it was back to bed for a nap.
My last act every morning before departure is to pick up the food bowl, turn to Pearl and say, “Pearly-Loo want her one piece of food?” For 13 years Pearl would come over to me and take a single kibble of t/d, march over to her bed and either eat it or bury it under her covers. Peyton was never interested in this sequence of events.
After Peyton succumbed to liver failure Pearl’s morning routine never varied. After we diagnosed Pearl with kidney failure, however, it was time to make the switch to Prescription Diet k/d, which is a very small kibble. I still ask her if she wants one piece of food, but she no longer hears me, as age has taken her hearing. Instead of “one piece,” of k/d which would be little more than a tease, I leave three or four in her bowl and she always comes over to be sure that I did. Some days she eats it right up, some days she turns and goes back to bed.
I love my little Pearl so very much. She is the sweetest, most attentive dog I’ve ever had.
Not that she’s “mine”, mind you. She is totally devoted to her Mommy, Brenda. As Brenda’s art studio is in our home, they spend 24 hours a day together and Pearl can hardly stand to be separated from Brenda.
Share your stories of puppy love below, in the Comments section.
See you tomorrow, Dr. Randolph.
