Dog story

Mindy

When Cliff's St. Louis sister and her husband come to visit, their dog Mindy comes along.  She's unbelievably well-behaved, so much so that they can walk her in the city without a leash.  She knows and obeys the word "heel".  They usually spend their first night in the area at Pat's parents' house and the second night here.  Mindy always refuses to eat while at his parents' house. 

I feed my dog Purina One.  I used to give her Science Diet, but when I received a sample packet of Purina One and put it in her dish with the other stuff, she carefully picked out each tiny piece of the new food, so I switched her.  
I recently found out, reading a site called Best Dog Foods, that Purina One doesn't rate very high, so I was going to change to Diamond dog food.  Before I could make the switch, though, it hit me that Iris had chosen Purina One and preferred it.  She isn't going to live forever anyhow.  She should have some voice in what she eats!  

Iris isn't the only dog who loves the stuff:  every dog who visits us goes straight to her bowl as soon as he arrives and eats all her food.  If the owner of the visiting dog objects, I have to put Iris' food up until they leave, which means Iris goes on a diet for the duration of the visit.  
Usually when Pat and Charlene visit with Mindy she refuses to eat until I trick her into eating.  I won't go into the story of how I get that done, but it works, and she always eats for me.  Once she starts eating, she's fine for the rest of their stay.  
So when they arrived, Mindy went straight to the kitchen, to Iris' empty bowl.  The back door is in the kitchen, and Pat thought maybe she wanted to go outside.  He was wrong.  She came back to the living room, but soon returned to the kitchen and lay down right next to Iris' empty dish.  
"I think she's hungry," I said.  
"She might be; she wouldn't eat at Dad's."  
He hadn't brought Mindy's food in yet, so I gave her a scoop of Purina One, which she devoured.  
Sunday morning I was in the kitchen preparing breakfast and Mindy joined me.  Well, now that her food was in the house, I didn't think it was the best thing for me to give her more of Iris' inferior food.  She is used to a high-rated dog food, not the lowly two-star-rated Purina One.  I ignored her.  
I went to the bathroom and was brushing my teeth when I heard a faint whining.  I turned to see Mindy at my heels.  She kept up the quiet crying, looking me straight in the eye.  
"This dog is in here CRYING for some of Iris' food," I told them.  "I don't care how much of it she eats, but it's up to you guys if I should feed her some."  
They gave me permission.  I fed her, and she ate every single bite.  
And of course I have set a pattern:  She is going to beg for that food every time she visits, because she has me wrapped around her little toenail.  It's like when kids go to Grandma's house.