Saves half his carrot for the morning

[Lisa]

Maybe he’s sleeping the entire time you’re out? When you get home and he wakes up perhaps it is then that he remembers to eat and drink?

Snowie very seldom drinks water. Only after walks and meals, sometimes just before bed if it’s particularly hot. When we go out he’s generally passed out, and when we come home he has a squashed face from sleeping!

Yes I think he does sleep for most of it. He’s weird with water generally, though. He will not go for a walk until he drinks his whole water bowl dry. And he won’t start drinking until I am standing there all dressed to go out with leash in hand. Which is fine in the summer but in the winter with snow pants, heavy coat, scarf, hat, mitts, etc etc it gets a little warm waiting for His Highness to drink his water. No amount of cajoling will make any difference, either.

 

[M.F.]

He will not go for a walk until he drinks his whole water bowl dry.

Sounds like me! I hate feeling thirsty while walking. But also don’t like carrying anything, esp not a water bottle, so I drink before going for a walk. Not as much as a whole water bowl though! I guess he’s filling the tank to ensure copious marking while out and about!

 

[MrChew]

Chewie is the opposite. He never drinks before we go out, then drinks from any random bowl we find. Luckily there are a lot of water bowls around in public places.

 

[Lisa]

Sounds like me! I hate feeling thirsty while walking. But also don’t like carrying anything, esp not a water bottle, so I drink before going for a walk. Not as much as a whole water bowl though! I guess he’s filling the tank to ensure copious marking while out and about!

Yes. We call it “filling up the tank”.

 

[Emily]

After dinner, Snowie comes insides and gets a raw carrot to chew on his bed. We've noticed that he leaves half of it, and then, the next day, after breakfast, after he's had his mush of sweet potato and joint/various supplements, and after he's licked whatever needs to be licked (eg if we cooked up a big pot of soup the night before and now decant it into smaller containers, he gets to lick out the soup pot), only then he'll go to his bed, settle down, and eat the rest of his carrot. We are sure he leaves half the carrot, knowing that tomorrow it'll be there for an after-breakfast chew. I am fascinated by how his mind works--does he really plan ahead like I'm thinking he does? I know dogs bury bones to dig up later. He doesn't do this. But leaving a carrot on his bed for tomorrow morning? The modern, urban Labrador?

The best part about this is that it's clear Snowie feels so happy and safe in his home that he KNOWS his half carrot will still be there later and won't have been taken away