Every Day at Noon

A few years ago a neighbor brought us a paper grocery bag filled with freshly harvested carrots, still earthy from the garden. Not being a major fan of carrots, I set the sack on the floor and put it out of mind while I busied myself with other things.

It wasn't long until I noticed Peppy was up to something. He was in a sort of sheepish stealth mode, surreptitiously creeping back and forth from the sack to his bed, sneaking the raw carrots out and gobbling them like proverbial forbidden fruit. 

I was dumbfounded. I had no clue dogs ever ate raw vegetables! 

As it turns out, all three of the "kids" adore raw carrots, so a bagful of long, skinny organic carrots is a staple on my weekly grocery shopping list. Every day at noon, the dogs gather around expectantly, drilling me with their earnest gazes and willing me toward the refrigerator. Even at my busiest, I eventually get the telepathic message: It's carrot time. So I drop what I'm doing, break a carrot into three chunks, and hand them out. 

Peppy grabs his promptly and dashes to his little bed under the computer desk where he chomps it down with alacrity.
 

Very blurry because Pep is devouring too quickly for my camera to focus on him properly. But I wanted to show you how he holds the carrot in his paws. So cute!

Lollia carries hers daintily to the backdoor rug and quietly but steadily devours it, trying to keep a low profile in case Peppy should finish his first and attempt to horn in on her booty.

Wickham makes a beeline for the yard with his carrot if the weather's dry, or to the couch if it's rainy. He's more of a connoisseur than a gobbler, and he can keep his snack going for quite a while--all the more reason to whisk it out of sight of his more voracious companions.

I've tried various fresh vegetables and fruits since the carrot discovery. I've discovered both the boys like fresh raspberries and blueberries. The thimbleberries that grow wild around the edges of the yard don't appeal to either of them. I can't say I blame them--they don't have much flavor. (It's fun to watch the chickens leaping up to grab them, though!) Lollia ignores fresh berries, period. 

Native thimbleberries. My youngest son had a terrifying experience years ago when he was picking and eating these. I'll have to tell you about it sometime.

 I've handed out freshly picked green beans, slices of yellow squash, fresh broccoli spears, apple slices, and even parsnips. No go. They might get taken politely away and chewed up into pieces and the bits spit out, but they don't get eaten. All three love dried fruit--cherries, blueberries, and "craisins". (Never offer your dogs raisins or grapes, though. They can be fatal.)

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