I Am Heartbroken!

[ellz]

You don't KNOW thick until you have watched a cat sit motionless and stare at a fly on the wall for an hour.

Except that the fly is actually a drawing pin!

I call that patience.

In any other creature it could be called patience. In poor old Kismet who is a Devon Rex with failing eyesight and hearing (DESPITE the size of those ears!!), it's stupidity. Poor love.

[lovemesideways]

Ok so I gave this a try with my boys.

Rover.

Showed him the biscuits, put them in the bowl, showed him bowl, then covered with towel and released him.

Throws himself at it, shoves bowl violently with nose till it was out from under the towel and cleared.

Elapsed time? About 3 seconds .

Riddick.

Showed him biscuits, placed in bowl, showed him bowl with biscuits, covered with towel and released him.

Wanders over to towel, nudges with his nose... nudges again... comes and sits in heel position and gazes up at me. I ignored him..... then finally after about 20 seconds of gazing tell him to "Go get it!". He goes to towel... nudges some more.... sniffs... then wanders over to his mat to lay down.

Rover mean time is whining and gazing at the towel with longing, so I release him. Throws himself at it, one sweep of the paw sends towel flying and he happily munches biscuits, then checks the towel to see if there are any more.

Attempt 2. I thought, ok maybe if I try a higher value treat? So I got some salt and vinegar chips (riddick adores these) and placed them in bowl, put bowl down and covered with towel as he watches. Then release him too it. he wanders over, sniffs... nudges with his nose, nudges some more. Slowly manages to work his nose under the towel and find a chip that had fallen out of bowl and eat that. Then since his work was obviously done he goes back to his mat. I called him back again, 'Get it riddick!". he comes back, nudge nudge nudge with the nose. (Never once using his paws..) Eventually manages to find the bowl under the towel, at which point he sits and gazes up at me for permission. So I released him and he ate some of the chips, then went back to his mat.

Released Rover, who throws himself at the bowl, licks it clean, then searches towel just in case.

Attempt 3. I figured, all right obviously still not something he really wants, so I went and found his favourite toy, a quacking duck. Threw it for him a few times, then put it on ground and covered with towel. Released him. He was like a machine, shoving that towel and actually managing to roll the duck up in it, before finding it, and prancing around with his tail going crazy.

Lesson learned? Well obviously Riddicks biggest drive is certainly not for food. Might have to try hiding myself under a blanket and see what he does.

And Rovers drive for food is just too high

[Diva]

I tried it too. One at a time and giving them the signal it was OK to have what I had put down.

Dog 1 moved the towel, sniffed the kibble and took one. She didn't return for the rest - but she's a fussy eater.

Dog 2 moved the towel, ate the kibble.

Dog 3 Picked the whole lot up towel and all and took it to her bed

Edited September 22, 2010 by Diva

[Henrietta]

Dog 3 Picked the whole lot up towel and all and took it to her bed

I'm trying this tonight.

[W Sibs]

I only tried the towel thing with Emmy.... she is more interested in the towel then food.

Charlie just waits till Emmy runs off with the towel and he goes eats the food.

[Nekhbet]

I don't have to bother with the towel

my rottie was just sitting here yelping. I think OMG whats wrong!

He's got his lip between his teeth and is biting is *sigh*

I think his mother was standing when she gave birth to him

[KumaAkita]

I only tried the towel thing with Emmy.... she is more interested in the towel then food.

Charlie just waits till Emmy runs off with the towel and he goes eats the food.

Charlie is one smart puppy...

Step 1: Get Emmy to take towel

Step 2: Eat food

[W Sibs]

I only tried the towel thing with Emmy.... she is more interested in the towel then food.

Charlie just waits till Emmy runs off with the towel and he goes eats the food.

Charlie is one smart puppy...

Step 1: Get Emmy to take towel

Step 2: Eat food

They work well together

[SpotTheDog]

I tried something like this, this morning with Gus.

Show treat.

Put treat on floor.

Cover treat with upturned plastic Harry Potter cup. (Great opportunity to forever banish horrible cup from kitchen cupboard.)

"Get treat!"

Sniff cup.

Sniff around cup.

Walk away.

Return.

Sniff cup again.

Sniff top of cup.

Lick floor around cup sadly.

Nudge cup with nose.

Cup slides along timber floor.

Too hard.

Go to bed.

Move cup to carpet.

Sniff cup.

Sniff around cup.

Walk away.

Return.

Sniff cup again.

Lick carpet around cup.

Gack, carpet, yuck, splutter.

Nudge cup with nose.

Cup catches in carpet.

Oh wait! Look! A piece of treat.

Snaffle treat.

Cup falls over while snaffling.

...

...

oh LOOK! Cup on its side is no longer intimidating Canine Mensa test! It's a TOY!!!

Kick cup.

Pounce on cup.

Pick cup up with teeth and carry it around, look at me, I have this plastic cup, I'm so AWESOME!!

Trot with cup in mouth.

Delighted owner takes cup and covers treat with cup again.

"Get treat!"

...bafflement. Whyfore you take away toy and turn this into immense test? Sniff and go to bed for sulks.

[KumaAkita]

I kept playing this last night with Kuma. It was so much fun! (I think I enjoyed it more than he did...)

It depended on what treat was under the cup. If I put in the dried liver treats, he pushed the cup around - he scooted around the dining table and ended up getting it stuck under a chair (ok, I may have helped him out of that jam) but he kept pushing until he got it caught on the couch and it tipped over. Next try, he batted it with his nose and ate the treat! quick learner, my boy.

I also put the muffin tin with treats covered by tennis balls down on the floor at random times just to see how long it took him to work out it was there. Not long usually!

Off to buy more tennis balls on my way home tonight!

[lovemesideways]

I kept playing this last night with Kuma. It was so much fun! (I think I enjoyed it more than he did...)

It depended on what treat was under the cup. If I put in the dried liver treats, he pushed the cup around - he scooted around the dining table and ended up getting it stuck under a chair (ok, I may have helped him out of that jam) but he kept pushing until he got it caught on the couch and it tipped over. Next try, he batted it with his nose and ate the treat! quick learner, my boy.

I also put the muffin tin with treats covered by tennis balls down on the floor at random times just to see how long it took him to work out it was there. Not long usually!

Off to buy more tennis balls on my way home tonight!

Riddick just grabbed the tennis ball and ran for it. Like WOOHOO BALL!!!! I had to call him back and point out the treat ;)

[KumaAkita]

Ok, 12 tennis balls and treats was a step too far ;)

[wuffles]

I tried this with my two - they both sniffed the towel then lost interest ;)

[sparkycat]

I just tried it on Keely and Jaana - Keely sniffed them stuck her nose under the towel, knocked over the container and got the treat. Jaana sniffed then remembered her training -always sit and lift paw for treat - then the test got hijacked by fast moving Siamese

I tried the towel on head with my deerhound (now ;) ) and he just lay down and went to sleep

[kimzy]

Just tried it with my two....

Angel the Cattle dog removed the towel, ate the food.

Bubba the Lab / Ridgie cross tried to eat the food through the towel after staring at it for almost 2 min. I guess he was thinking really hard.. ;)

[Tilly]

I tried it this morning with a plastic disposable cup and a piece of chicken ... plastic cup got squashed (rather then pushed aside) and the chicken was inhaled ... and then plastic cup was chewed within an inch of its life!!!

[aussielover]

I tried the towel thing last night. Mindy stared at me with a look like "what are you doing, are you stupid???" and then once released ripped the towel off in about 3 seconds.

The cup was even quicker, she literally picked it up and threw it across the room and dug in LOL.

This is a dog that will open doors and drawers to get to food though....

at 8 weeks old she learnt to open her playpen to get to some food that had spilled out.

However, when i put the towel on HER, she just gave me a sad look and went onto her bed, still covered in the towel.

[OSoSwift]

I tried this with our three.

Rommi- wacked towel and bowl until it turned upside down, then stuck her nose in until she inhaled the food. Aorund 8 seconds.

Lewis- Looked hard, sniffed lots, got snet back numerous times and ended up sitting infront of me looking rather pathetic. I ended up feeling sorry for hima nd took the teatowel off.

Brutus - ran over that fast he nearly fell over, sniffed and tried to eat the food through the towel! Run backwards and forwards between food and myself Staffy scream/chortling at the top of his lungs. Ended up sitting in front of me and going off so I gave up and took the towel off.

Conclusion - Rommi is a pig!

Lewis is a bit prissy and has too many manners to barge in to get the food.

Brutus is not the sharpest tool in the shed!

We decided if this was any indication, they would need to stick with Rommi if stranded in the wild as the two boys would perish by themselves! ALthough the pig might eat all the food first!