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Does My Dog Have a Dish Fetish?September 03, 2008 Dear Dr. Freudogsky: When it started, I didn't think anything of it. Trav found the dark green double-bowl dish that the barn cats eat their morning wet food out of. First he licked it clean, then he carried it out front and licked it cleaner. Dis Kitty and Dat Kitty (the barn cats in residence) don't leave leftovers, so there wasn't much to lick, but I figured what the hell, a dishwashing by Travvy would help keep the flies down. But after he'd finished licking, he'd start gnawing on the dish as if it were a rawhide or a bone or some other toy. Hmmm. Maybe Travvy thought the cats' food dish was a toy? Well, the food dish seems to be made of some impact-resistant space-age plastic that can't be destroyed by asteroid attack or malamute teeth, and besides, when he was gnawing on the cats' food dish, he wasn't pilfering brushes, towels, sponges, lead ropes, half-chaps, polo wraps, and carrots from people's grooming boxes. I started having second thoughts when Trav started gnawing on his own food dish. He eats in his crate. At meal times I say, "Go to your crate!" He goes in and lies down. I take his food dish, put a couple of toy-like objects in it to keep him from snarfing his food so fast that he gets hiccups, measure his kibble (Blue Seal Puppy Formula) and pour it over the toy-like objects. He eats. Usually he takes one of the toy-like objects (usually a bone or a cow toe) out of the crate and starts gnawing on it. One day, though, the sounds weren't right. I looked over: he was gnawing on his food dish. His food dish is not made of impact-resistant space-age plastic; it's made of cheap red plastic that I would love to have an excuse to replace, which is probably why my first reaction to Travvy gnawing on his food dish was to laugh out loud. I did realize that laughing might send him the wrong message (I also realized that the worst possible message was to give him more food; of course I didn't do that), so I started taking the dish away from him and putting it back in his crate. If he took it back, I'd put it in the crate and lock the crate door. The other day while working at the computer I was distracted by a hollow thump-and-rattling noise out on the deck, where Trav was. (I should say that Trav is now six months old and probably weighs about 60 pounds.) My first thought was that he was gnaw-and-dragging the door mat around the deck -- the door mat is made of asteroid-resistant rubber tires from Detroit or wherever they make rubber tires these days, and since it shows absolutely no signs that a teething malamute puppy has been chewing on it with his very impressive teeth, I figure it's an honorary toy and let him play with it whenever I'm not wiping my feet, which is most of the time. But it wasn't the door mat. Trav was gnawing on his outside water dish, which is burgundy-colored and made of a much sturdier plastic than his food dish. The water dish was empty. There was a big puddle in the middle of the deck. I refilled the water dish from the kitchen tap and replaced it outside. Trav picked it up, shook the water all over the deck, took the dish over to one corner, and settled down to gnaw. We have gone through this routine several times. In fact, in the middle of typing this letter, I heard the telltale sounds out on the deck, and sure enough, Travvy was gnawing on his water dish at the edge of a big puddle. Dr. Freudogsky, is Trav trying to tell me something? I can't help noticing that the only dish he hasn't chewed on is his inside water dish, which is made of metal. Maybe he is telling me that he doesn't care for plastic, or that plastic is for chewing, not eating or drinking out of? As far as I can tell, Travvy is a happy, healthy, friendly dog -- OK, so he's also an imp who sometimes acts as if Coyote is his dogfather, but that's fine with me. Do you think he has a dish fetish, or is this just a stage he's going through? Sincerely,
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