My dog has lost her mind.

You may recall a few blogs back here I discussed a phenomena whereby the puppy would bring me the last mouthful of her food and "share" it with me. This got to be really annoying so I decided since the weather is nicer that I would move the dog's dish outside under the cover of the porch so that they could not make such a mess in my kitchen.

Now you have to have a little background on my older dog, Sydney. Since she was a puppy, Sydney has suffered severe separation anxiety. She has gotten better over the years but there was a time when we had to give her medication to be able to kennel her, and by kennel I mean put her in a doggie kennel and leave the house.  She would freak out.   She was good with being left alone in the house after a while, but only if all the interior doors were open.  We have moved past that now to where I can close the bedroom doors and she is chill, but there is one barrier I have not been able to breach.  The sliding glass door.  If she is not in the mood, Sydney WILL NOT go outside by herself if the sliding glass door closes.  She will go outside and lay on the porch or in the yard...just don't close that door or a full on freak out will happen. We have worked on this over the past few years to the point where she will now go out and lay in the sun for a while but when she is done, SHE IS DONE. The only exception to this rule has been when she needs to go to the bathroom she is ok with the door shutting.  But then she comes right back and wants in NOW.

So this brings me to the food dish.  Which is outside the sliding glass door.  This poses a conundrum for my food loving dog.  On the one hand, she really wants that food.  On the other hand she knows I am going to shut that door because of the escape kitty who cannot be outside.  So she goes out.  And then immediately asks to come in.  And then she goes out. Inoutinoutinoutinoutinoutinoutinoutinout.  Unless I stand at the door while she paces back and forth in front of her food dish until she starts to eat, she won't eat.  Once she starts to eat, I can sit down by the door in plain sight and read a book or play on my computer until she is done and she will finish, with one eye on me the entire time.  But if I get up and walk away, she will drop her food, half chewed, and knock on the door to come in. 

It's driving me batty.  She is losing weight.  She needs to get over it.  She is 10 years old.  I am kidding myself. It's never going to happen. 

Meanwhile the puppy is only too happy to finish off all of the uneaten food.  She is going to look like the goodyear blimp here shortly if I don't watch her, lol. 


I must love this dog.  I have put up with her psychosis for 10 years now.  Oy.