Friday, December 5, 2008

Alanis and the chickens

I toss the leftover parrot cooked food into the chicken pen. Six chickens rush over and start pecking at the beans and peas. Alanis stands for a moment, watching as I start up the rock stairway to the upper part of the yard. When I’m too far away to grab her, she rushes at the pen, bouncing happily when the chickens scatter.

From the top of the stairs I yell, “Lanis, no.” Remarkably, she trots away from the pen to the nearby trees to scuff in the leaves and scratch her back under low-hanging branches. At least I know what she would do if the chickens were loose. Flappy-squawky toys!

Earlier today I spent some time at Target looking for the right dish. It had to be plastic, not metal. It could not be a bowl. It had to have enough depth to hold at least a half cup of water. It had to be cheap because I didn’t know if she would eat from it. Sadly, I had to pass up the cute child’s bowl with the monster printed on the bottom in favor of the plain black dish. These dishes are made of melamine. Just what we want touching our food.

3 comments:

  1. We have ducks in the alley by the gallery. Madison is interested, but in a play-way not a hunting-way. She is also very found of duck shit. Yuck. We try to stay out of the alley!

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  2. Maybe one day you'll get to catch one of those chickens, Alanis!

    Love ya lots,
    Maggie and Mitch

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  3. Hi Alanis & Sherry!
    Maggie & Mitch sent us over to check out your blog. There aren't many Irish Terrier blogs so the Airedales and Wire Foxes let us hang out with them.
    We were reading some of your older posts too about Alanis not eating or drinking much. We have a few ideas about that. Keeley is an awfully pampered boy. He absolutely refuses to eat out of a bowl. I think he just doesn't want to get his nose dirty. If I gave him food in a bowl, the first thing he'd do is dump it out on the floor. So what I have to do is give Keeley his food on a plate. Maybe Alanis doesn't want to get her nose dirty either?
    Also, Keeley is very picky about his kibble, but I found one kind that he just loves. It's Nature's Variety Instinct Grain-free Kibble. He likes it so much that I can give him one kibble at a time and he thinks its a treat.
    We've heard another reason why not to drink out of a plastic bowl. Certain plastics can cause a dog to lose pigment on it's nose and around the eyes. It happened to our freinds' giant airedale. Fortunatley, when they switched to stainless steal but color came back.
    Woof,
    Keeley & Erin

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