15 September 2005

Children and animals

I've been able to resist, for the most part, blogging about the cute things that my kids do, but there was an episode night before last that was just too good to keep to myself.

My dog, Ross, has been porking up a bit lately, and I'd been having a difficult time figuring out why. I hadn't been feeding him more, he hadn't been getting too many snacks, he hadn't been getting into the trash, so I just wasn't sure what was going on. Then, last night, I got a hint of one of the possible causes.

I woke up around 2, and went downstairs to get something to drink. When I did, I found that the lights were on, and my son (who is 6) was down there with the dog. They were both sitting on the kitchen floor, they were both eating Pop-Tarts, and they both looked up at me with exactly the same guilty expressions on their faces.

From what I was able to piece together, my son started this tradition a couple of weeks ago when he was sick and not sleeping well. The dog, who is a fast learner, decided that the tradition should continue, and has been waking him up for the midnight snacks. That was, at least, what the boy claimed was happening. I was a bit skeptical, but an empirical investigation conducted last night seems to have confirmed this scenerio. Dog and boy are now being kept isolated from each other at night.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is cute, but also a reminder that both children and dogs are fairly opportunistic....

"... and they both looked up at me with exactly the same guilty expressions on their faces."

Now this part is interesting, considering these are two different species with different facial anatomy! I'm always fascinated by interspecies communication, and your reaction highlights how much both humans and dogs have adapted to each others' non-verbal signals.

John Evo said...

Might want to look into healthier breakfast bars as well! Though it's tough to beat a good strawberry pop-tart! Mmmmmm... gotta go eat.