Dog stories: Sucking the juices out

So...I share my home with one human roommate, three dogs and a minimum of five cats.  They're constantly teaching me things, as some of you already know.  This lesson has to do with my dog, Willow, and her eating habits.

All three dogs get fed at the same time and they get fed the same diet: dry dog food (the brand name of which shall remain anonymous for now) with a sort of sauce or gravy of water and a tablespoon or two of canned dog food.  "The Boys" - Bradley and Radar - like lots of gravy and, since water is a good filler, I give them plenty of water to help them feel full on the rations suggested by the manufacturer of the dry food.  Willow, however, likes the canned food, but not so much the water, so she gets the recommended amount of dry food and just enough of the "gravy" to make is tastier.

Here's the thing -  Willow will stand over her bowl and lap up the "gravy" until all the liquid is gone.  Then she systematically goes through the rest of her meal picking up mouthfuls of kibble and licking off the remaining canned food.  She lets the no-longer-dry food fall back into her bowl and keeps going, literally sucking the juices off of and out of her meal before eating the rest.  It takes her twice as long as the boys to eat her meals, but she persists in this behavior.  I don't know if she likes the "gravy" best and so wants to get every bit of it that she can before consuming the less tasty part, or if it's the other way around.  I sometimes wonder if she struggles to figure out why I ruin her perfectly good dog chow with this gooey stuff - or wonders why I won't just give her the whole can of wet food and forget about the boring, dry nuggets.  I guess I prefer to think she likes the gravy best.

When I was a child, my Grandmother Stout used to tell a story about a birthday dinner when she was a girl.  Her mother had made a cake and the icing was better than usual.  After a bite or two, my Grandmother carefully scraped the icing off and piled it on the edge of her plate to save for last because it was her favorite part of that cake.  As she got down to the last bite or two of cake, her father reached over with his fork and said, "Well, if you're not going to eat it, I will!"  Before she could object or explain what she had intended, he scooped up her icing and popped it in his mouth.  She would aways follow that story with the advice to just dig in to what you like - suck the juices off, as Willow might say - and not delay the joy, because you never know what's going to happen.

It seems to me that there's a common theme here, and a message that seems to be worth repeating:  Life is short, so don't waste a minute of it.  Eat dessert first once in a while.  Savor your blessings.  And no matter how many times the same blessing makes its way to you, stay grateful!