Bogie - the reason my counter is less cluttered.

First it was the Dingo rawhide chews. I give the dogs a rawhide when I go upstairs to work on the computer.  It's meant to be a distraction so they will let me work in peace.

I set two on the stove, then stepped out of the room for just  a moment.  When I came back,  Bogie was chewing on a rawhide.  I looked at the stove.  Both rawhides were gone.  Bogie was only chewing one rawhide and wasn't saving the other.  I finally found the second outside with Angel.

Not only had Bogie taken the chews off the stove, he had given Angel hers.

The next day, I made cornbread to have with seafood chowder.  With half the cornbread remaining, I covered the metal pan with plastic wrap and set it near the back of the counter. Mind you, the rawhides were the very first time Bogie had taken anything since I got him two months ago.  And he knew they were destined for him anyway. So I had no qualms about leaving the pan on the counter.

When I got home from work the next day, there was nothing obviously out of place in the kitchen.  But when I stepped into the back yard, there was the empty cornbread pan laying in the grass.  I found the plastic wrap in the rocks.

So envision this - Not only did Bogie figure out there was edible food on the counter, somehow he managed to carry the pan out through the doggy door before eating it.  He didn't drop the pan off the edge of the counter.  He didn't tip it upside down.  He didn't eat it immediately.

He carefully carried it outside to enjoy the spoils.

I wish I had a surveillance camera.  Did he carry the pan in his teeth from the end where the rim forms a handle?  Did he maneuver the pan so he could grab it from the side?  He isn't telling.

I scolded him for the cornbread and figured that was that.  Silly me.

The very next day when I came home from work, there was a shattered ceramic cookie jar on the kitchen tile.   The dog treats that had been stored within were all eaten.  A second, plastic canister was out in the back yard, still filled with treats.

I suspect his success with the cornbread went to his head.  The plastic container of dog treats was on the outside of the counter.  I imagine he grabbed it and took it outside - through the doggy door.  I do appreciate that he takes these things outside to deal with them.  Obviously, he couldn't figure out how to open the canister.

So he went back inside to grab the next available treat container, the cookie jar in the shape of a begging dog.  I’m sure he thought he would just grab it and go outside.  But, being ceramic, it was both heavier and slipperier than he expected.  The jar crashed to the floor.

I can mentally picture them both hightailing it out the doggy door.  A few minutes pass, and Bogie sticks his head through the door.  Seeing no danger, and seeing the scattered treats, he reenters the house and carefully picks the treats out of the debris.  I can't decide whether Angel joined him.  Thankfully, neither dog was injured by the glass.

Angel was remorseful when I told them how disappointed I was.  Bogie just wagged his tail and grinned at me.  While I disliked losing the cornbread I had planned for my own dinner, and having to clean up shattered glass, I admire Bogie's ingenuity.

The upshot is the treat containers are now kept in the pantry.  And the pantry has the standard round door knob.  I suspect that if it had a lever style door knob, Bogie would figure out how to open it.  I'm not completely sure he won't figure out how to manage the round knobs.

My kitchen counters are disturbingly devoid of clutter.