3 lbs. of Tuna Bites, GONE!

A rainy day at TBTB Dog Camp means biscuit baking time. All the dogs gather in the kitchen in hopes of cleaning a bowl or grabbing a scrap off the floor. Funny, they always seem to know what’s cookin’. Today it’s Tuna Bites, a simple recipe with no wheat, soy or corn. I make enough for the canine cookie jar, plus more to sell at the local bakery. Lots and lots of Tuna Bites with Parmesan cheese - baked, cooled and placed inside organza paw print bags. The smell of the freshly baked pastries fill the nostrils of all dogs near and far, as their sense of smell is much better than ours. Having said that, you can probably guess where this is going. . .

The process took all morning by the time I cleaned up, packaged the bakery treats and filled the treat jar. Incidentally this jar is a large black and white dog with a toothy smile. When the lid opens the sound of “You Ain’t Nothin’ But a Hound Dog” or “Who Let the Dogs Out” rings out causing all TBTB dogs to scamper toward it. They are conditioned to run to the kitchen for a treat when they hear the voice of Elvis bellowing. After giving each of them a Tuna Bite treat, I put RockDog and Anne in their crates, a few big dogs on the front deck, a few more on the back deck, leaving the rest free to roam the house while I go out to run errands.

When I return in less than an hour all I see are chewed up paw print organza bags on the kitchen floor. “Anne” I said, “what did you do?” I knew it had to be her because she can jump and grab off the counter with the best of them. And then I remembered, Anne’s in her crate and so is RockDog, the two biggest food-snagging offenders. Sorry guys! I then turn to ZipDog, the other chowhound in the group. She looks at me as if to say: “you’ve got to be kidding.” Of course I then realize that the treats are at the back of the counter and there is no way with her short legs, that she could possibly be the culprit. I always blame my dogs before even thinking of any dogs in camp. But this time it’s apparently not a Roush dog.

I scan the crowd and see a very sheepish German Shepherd called Denali – a newbie in camp. She is certainly tall and lean enough to stand at the counter and reach the treats. The other possibility is Teddy, a yellow lab that is a TBTB regular. But, I always leave Teddy in the house and he has never touched a thing – he just makes himself at home on my bed while I’m gone.

So the question becomes, Whodunit? Which dog is guilty, or maybe there is more than one? The bottoms of three bags were completely chewed out and the contents devoured. Each bag weighed a pound so that means somebody ate 3 lbs. of biscuits and were probably about to finish off the other 5 lbs. when I returned. A few choice words escaped my lips causing all the little darlings to run for cover (guilty or not), while I cleaned up the shredded bags. All that work. . . down the gullet, probably inhaled rather than savored. Grrrrr!

Denali’s humans came later that evening to pick her up and I ask if she had ever counter surfed at home, and her mom got a sheepish look on her face – must run in the family? Her response was something to the effect “yes, what did she do?” I explained the biscuit incident and took full blame for leaving them on the counter in the first place, as I should. The dogs at TBTB are always ready to cease the moment if I err in judgment, especially when food is involved.

It was obvious that Denali made many friends that afternoon as they all wanted to play with her and sniff her lips. I do wish I had a web cam. I suspect Denali got the biscuits down from the counter and they all had quite a feast on Tuna Bites. And in the process, she became their hero. Dogs are opportunists at heart and can rarely resist their nose guiding them to some yummy treasure stashed somewhere. And who in their right mind would leave dogs home alone with freshly baked treats within their reach?

Stupid Human Anyhow!
Woof! Woof!