Schnauzer Drama

As any schnauzer parent will tell you, having one is like have a toddler in the terrible two's.  They are so lovable, motivated by fun, and stubborn as all get out.  Oh. my. gosh.  Tonight Liesl had a head of granite.  No-- harder, maybe diamond.  LOL  I had made her dinner.  One that she loves.  I get her the Newman's Own Organic Chicken and Brown Rice Dinner. (Do I get organic food?  Of course not.  I get the pesticide laden, artificially preserved stuff.  After all, I am merely a human.)  But I digress.  I mix a little of the warmed up mushy food with her kibble.  Sometimes I will add a little brown rice if I am eating it, because she loves the stuff and will not leave me alone until she gets her "share."  

She gets her dinner every evening at the same time. Most dogs can not wait for this time.  The vet does not want her to eat after 7 pm.  For the same digestive reasons as humans.  I have to serve her dinner wherever I am eating because she does not want to eat alone.  If I eat dinner on the sofa in front of the TV, she will take mouthfuls of her food, carry it into the living room, spit it out, then eat it.  Then go back for another mouthful... Sometimes she will wait to see what I am getting for dinner for comparison.  Then she will try to use the Force on me to try to move my food to her mouth.  She has a rather intense, focused, laser like stare.  

Anyway, tonight she decided, like a toddler, that she did not want her dinner.  She wanted cookies.  She will go about letting me know this one of two ways.  The first is that she will sit on the floor in the kitchen and stare without moving at the cookie jar on the counter.  (Use the Force, Schnauzer...)  The other way is to tap on the cabinet door that sits below the actual cabinet that holds her treat assortment with her front paw.  This is highly discouraged because I have nice new cabinets in my kitchen that I do not want scratched.  

She was relentless in begging for cookies.  I told her that she had to eat her puppy dinner, which included the bonus brown rice.  She went and tapped on the cabinet.  I told her no.  She stared at the cookie jar.  Again, no way.  We now had a standoff.  I was concerned about missing the 7 pm cutoff. So I did what I thought would get her attention.  I got a fork.  Suddenly I had her interest.  I picked up her dog bowl, sat on the floor, and fed her the puppy dinner with a fork.  (She likes eating off of a fork.  After all, she does not think she is a dog.  She is very gentle and does not scrape her teeth on it.)   I totally had her attention and she was thinking this is pretty cool.  

I dread tomorrow.  I am a bit concerned that I have created a monster and will now be playing airplane with a fork with a schnauzer.  

There are days I really doubt that I am at the top of the food chain...But I love her so much I would not change it for the world.  While she was sleeping next to me on the sofa this evening, I laid my head on her little warm self, breathed in the sweet scent of her puppy shampoo, and felt her super soft hair as I gave her a kiss on her sweet little head.  I may have to get her her own special fork...