Cool as a Cucumber

It has occurred to me lately how great having a dog can be.   For example, I love coming home to an extremely excited and happy dog every day!  No matter how bad my day is, coming home to a dog that is so excited to see me makes my day exceedingly better.

However, one of my favorite things about having a dog is that it is like having an all inclusive cleaner.... He not only vacuums... but he also mops the floors!  Lucky us!   But seriously, having Atlas is usually like having an all-in-one cleaner system...but without the hassle of actually having to do any cleaning myself!

For instance, the other morning I was running late for work but I remembered I needed to put supper in the crock pot before I left!   I was making corn chowder so I had to peel and cut up some veggies and ham.  In the chaotic rush of doing this, veggies and ham chunks started flying everywhere!

I don't know if it was out of the goodness of his heart or because he is terrified of the vacuum, but just as I was about to start freaking out about having to clean up the  huge mess that was now made, Atlas came in to save the day!!!

"I thinkz I canz be of assistance to you.....

Just whatever you do, leave the vacuumz cleaner out of this"

Atlas then proceeded to suck up the chunks of food that had made their way to the floor.... and then after that, he also mopped it up with that long tongue of his!

Thank goodness for Atlas, because I would have never made it to work on time if it wasn't for him cleaning up the huge mess in the kitchen for me!  He is a life saver in so many ways!

However, he is a picky vacuum cleaner and mop..  I mean the point of this blog is to discuss what he will and will not eat.... so really, he can only be so helpful when it comes to food falling on the ground because if it's not something that is up to his high taste bud standards, he will not eat it.  I seriously wonder what kind of dog he is...but some mysteries are just meant to be unsolved.   

The other night though, as I was making a salad wrap, Atlas came up to me willingly volunteering to help me out with any disasters that may occur while I was cutting up veggies (he is really very helpful!).  I started cutting up some cucumber and I decided it would be a perfect time to see if he liked them!    

Of course I made him sit for it... but I also decided to see if I could get him to let me set the slice on his nose.

I don't know what I was thinking:

"Dear goodness!  What are you tryinz to do to me!?!?!"

Well, I gave up on that idea pretty quickly.   I decided to continue messing with him a bit though before I let him have it.   You can see how much he loved that:

"That looks so tasty!  I need it!"

Not Impressed Atlas.. he must have been taking lessons from Kayla Maroney!

After I stopped bugging him, it was finally time to find if he likes cucumbers.

"Finally"

"NOM NOM NOM!!!!!!!"

"This is delicious!!!!"

"Can I haz more?"

He ate up the cucumber so fast that I started wondering if he would also like dill pickles.  So lucky him, he got another little treat.  I really didn't think he would like the pickle because of how strong of a taste dill pickles  usually have but who knows  he has been surprising me lately with what he will eat.  I really didn't think he would eat the cucumber either because they are a bit slimy but he did!

"that does not look like a cukumber...."

"I will tryz it anyway"

 Well it turns out, he likes pickles as well.... this puppy is going to ruin the theme of this blog if he keeps liking the things we are feeding him.  Part of me feels like he has been playing us for months.. making us believe he is picky since he was a pup, knowing we would keep trying to feed him things and then he gets to eat a bunch of human food.... that little trickster.  But he did clearly like the pickle, he even had to lick his chops when he was finished.

"Pickles.  My new favorite thing!"

"ugh... are you taking more pictures of me 

for your blog... gosh.. I did not sign up for this"

It appears I may have to up the ante if this dog keeps eating the stuff we have been giving him.  Next weeks blog I will have to think of something more creative for him to eat in hopes that he won't just chow it down and that this blog doesn't just end up being Atlas' food journal. Perhaps some fruit cake?  Suggestions welcome on what we should try next!

*********

“To see cucumbers in a dream denotes that you will speedily fall in love. Or, if you are in love, then you will marry the object of your affection.”
--Richard Folkard in 'Plant Lore' (1884)

Cranberry Fields Forever: Thanksgiving Edition

This last week was Thanksgiving and boy was it a busy busy week full of many wonderful blessings.

First, because it was just Thanksgiving, I would like to start out by giving thanks for my family dog, Dixie.  She passed away the Monday before Thanksgiving and so it was kind of a sad time for my family because we had her for 14 years!!   I remember picking her out when I was just a wee child (I was only 11!).  Really though, 14 years is pretty incredible for a farm dog.  She was an amazing, sweet, and wonderful dog that we all miss dearly already.  However, as sad as it is that she passed away after 14 good years, I am so thankful that she left us before the winter truly got here because it would have been very hard on her, so I am very thankful that she did not have to suffer through another winter.  I can only hope that Atlas will give us that many good years.

With that, we love and miss you Dixie-cup:

On the bright side though, my parents will probably get a puppy in the spring so now Atlas will actually have a playmate when we go to visit.

With Thanksgiving being last week and knowing we were going to be seeing a lot of people, Chris and I decided that it was time for Atlas' quarterly bath on Tuesday.  It was our third time giving him a bath in our enormous bathtub, which has its pros and cons (Pros: There is a lot of room to fit all of us in to give him a bath  Cons: There is a lot of room for Atlas to slip around and try to escape).  It went better than the first two times but still not great.  For starters, when he even senses we are going to do something "horrible" to him he shuts down, and by shut down, I mean he flops to the ground  and is nearly impossible to get him to do anything once he is in this mood.  So Chris physically had to pick him up and put him in the tub.  Once he was in the tub he was okay-ish

"Please No….you really do not have to do this"

"Why ME?!"

Other than his few escape attempts, the rest of the bath time went pretty smoothly….well other than when he slipped and fell down into the water because he kept putting his back paw on the side of the bathtub, in which he really tried to give up after that happened.

"If I back up far enough….. I will  get out of this tub!!!"

 No worries though, we eventually got him up and finished his bath so he looked and smelled squeaky clean for the long holiday weekend, which I am sure everyone was thankful (No one likes a smelly doggie!).

Now, onto the reason this blog exists, what did we try feeding our good smelling puppy this week!?  Well, with it being Thanksgiving I obviously wanted to do something that fit the holiday and also, with us trying to keep Atlas looking good, I figured we might as well feed him something that is good for him:  Cranberry! (Fun fact:  Cranberry is very good for dogs!) We didn't feed him a full cranberry but this cranberry dish my mom makes.  We wanted to test it out but Atlas was sleeping…..so we had to get him to come by us so we could see if he liked cranberry!

"OHHHH Atlas…. we have something for you"

  "I'M COMING!!!!"

Of course we made him sit and stay before we gave him the cranberry… he cannot just get food without working for it!

"That looks super scrumptious!"

And oh boy did he ever find it scrumptious!!!!  Not even Jasper could interrupt him while he licked up the delicious cranberry out of the dish!

Jasper:  "You still smell wonderful from your bath!"

Atlas:  "Excuse me Jasper, I am busyz….. but thank you"

"MMMM"

Okay Atlas, take a break.  

"But… But… mom… "

"plz…I eat more?"

And so we let him eat more….. and eat more he did!  He licked that bowl clean!

Needless to say, I think he likes cranberries…. kind of shocking considering how bitter they can taste…. but hey…. as long as they are good for him.. I can't complain.   He ate them pretty fast so he must actually like them a lot…. I mean after watching how he ate them, I kind of picture that he was doing this while he was in the midst of scarfing down those cranberries:

On a unrelated note,  Chris and I may need to consider investing in a tent for Christmas because he made himself a nice and cozy bed inside our friends childrens' tent while we were visiting her over Thanksgiving….:

"Dear Santa..... could you puh-wease bring me a tent with 

pillows in it for Christamas, I've been a very good boy dis year.
That would be super. 

Thanks, Atlas" 

*****

“If you're at Thanksgiving dinner, but you don't like the stuffing or the cranberry sauce or anything else, just pretend like you're eating it, but instead, put it all in your lap and form it into a big mushy ball. Then, later, when you're out back having cigars with the boys, let out a big fake cough and throw the ball to the ground. Then say, "Boy, these are good cigars!"  ~Jack Handy

P.S.  As hard as it is to believe, I had an incredibly hard time finding a quote regarding cranberries!  Why is there such little love for the cranberry?

Life is Gooouda!

One of my favorite things about going to my parents house is stopping at the Cedar Valley Cheese Store (which on the way up there).  The only thing that can make it better is when there is a sale on my favorite cheese, smoked Gouda.  It just so happens that our most recent trip to my parents we not only stopped at the cheese store, but to my delight, smoked Gouda was on sale!!!  

Well, while I was enjoying my smoked Gouda the next day, someone just so happened to want to try it for themselves.

"Cheeeesee  Pweeeasse?"

What is a cheese lover to do??   I did not want to waste my delicious cheese on Atlas, especially if he more than likely was going to lick it for a second and not eat it anyway...... but that face!  How can I say no to that adorable face!?   

Fine, you win Atlas (well, this time)....

BUT wait.... you must work for this cheese.... I mean I don't give my cheese out for free, you must work for something so special!

"I sitz pretty for you?"

That's pretty good... but not good enough...

"Look, I can shake too!!"

I mean.. that is good too... but I still do not know if Atlas was worthy of such a scrumptious treat!

"What if I lay down???  It's all I got at this point! 

 Can I PWEASE try some smoked Gouda now!?"

I guess after all those tricks you deserve to taste my delicious cheese, but first you must sit pretty one last time:

"Anything for that cheese!  It looks so Goouda!"

"GIVE ME THAT CHEESE!!!  OMNOMONOM"

Honestly, Chris and I have never seen Atlas grab a piece of food so assertively... usually he takes it so delicately ... and when I say delicately... I mean so delicately, that we question his dog-hood sometimes....  so the fact that he took it so assertively... he must really like cheese.   I have never been prouder of my pup... I mean if he did not like cheese I do not even know what I would do..  I wonder if there is a return policy on him?  Well who knows...but  thank goodness we do not have to consider those options because this dog LOVES cheese (Phew!)!!! It's amazing to find something he actually likes... and not just likes... LOVES!   Definitely my dog!  

Also, I guess I owe this dog since Chris and I always make him do and wear ridiculous things that he hates.... but come on.. how adorable is Atlas in this Bucky hat!?!?!?

"The poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese."  ~G.K. Chesterton 

One Bad Apple Spoils The Bunch….

A common problem Chris and I have is figuring what to have for supper…. tonight we decided on making some brinner (breakfast for dinner).  The main dish was going to be pumpkin pancakes (YUM!) but I felt like we needed a little side dish to go along with the pancakes.  I looked around for something easy to make but nothing was inspiring me so I decided that we would go simple and just cut up an apple and have that as the side.   As I was cutting it up, Atlas came up to me with those big, begging eyes.  Now, Chris and I have periodically throughout the last year tested whether Atlas would eat apple cores and every time we have done this, he has taken it but he has never successfully eaten an apple.  As a result, I was very hesitant to waste a delicious apple slice since I was convinced he was not going to eat it anyway.

BUT….how can I resist those big adorable puppy eyes!?

"PWEASE, can I haz an apple…?"

I guess it was Atlas' lucky day because I decided to give him my last piece of apple!  (Well..to be honest, by the time I ate my pumpkin pancake and most of my apple pieces, I was pretty darn full and did not want my last piece of apple anyway!)

"OH BOY!!"

He then did his typical bring it into our living room to eat it on our rug (I don't know why, but he insists on taking all his food and ice cubes that we give him to the living room to eat).

Atlas showed promise that he may try eating this apple as he started to passionately lick the apple slice.

"hmmmm…."

A minute into his licking the apple he walked closer to me and gave me this look:

"I don't want dis …. what else you got?"

Needless to say….. Atlas did not approve of the apple…. He did not even try to eat it… just gave it a few licks, gave up, and then came to me like I should offer him some other sort of food for the inconvenience I just caused him.  I tell ya, dogs these days… never satisfied.

That is the question….

Welcome!

The other night I was putting together some homemade smoothie packs at my kitchen table when my puppy dog, Atlas, came up to me and started begging me to give him some food.  Normally, my fiance, Chris, and I are pretty strict about feeding him any sort of food that we are handling or eating when he is begging, but I was particularly vulnerable that night and his puppy dog eyes were unbelievably convincing.  Considering I was primarily cutting up fruit, I made the assumption he would not actually eat it anyway since he is a very picky eater and would consequently stop begging.  However, my assumptions turned out to be very wrong!  Since that night, my fiance and I have started playing a little game called "will he eat it?' with Atlas and have started testing what he will and will not eat.  Mix this game we have been playing with Atlas (and his extreme weirdness in general) with my ambitions to start a blog and voila!  my Will He Eat It blog!

So what can you expect from this blog?  Well, weekly updates on our endeavors to see what Atlas will and will not eat- and theories on why we think he did or did not eat certain things- including but not limited to- earthworms, fruit, grass, vegetables, pumpkin guts, or whatever else he may get into or we attempt to feed him.*  In addition, I will be including various stories about the very odd things our special dog does on a weekly basis (He really is an odd pup once you get to know him!).  I just really want to share the adorable stories and fun things about our extremely adorable (and like I said, weird) dog!  We love him, our friends love him, our family loves him, and I hope you grow to love him as well through these weekly "will he eat it" updates!!

Crystal

*Do not fret, we are very cautious about what we let him eat!  We will not feed him anything that we know or think will get him sick or harm him in ANY way