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My Dog Salvy

 Salvy went on a brief hunger strike.


I had been asking him not to lunge for Joshua's food, and I eventually began to incarcerate him in the kitchen. I used the "child safety gates."

But Salvy is stubborn and bright. His response was just to stop eating. He would wander into the backyard and sun himself for hours, and hours, and hours.

After many months of the pandemic, you begin to wonder if you have lost the ability to feel surprised. But Salvy's new self-restraint did the impossible. It surprised me--in this current year--2021.

So Salvy won the battle, and he has returned to his normal habit of lunging for J's food. I know that some people have extraordinary dog-training skills, and they pride themselves on the good behavior of their pets. I will never be one of those people. I have to accept this.

It's not easy.

Salvy--wisely--is keeping his own thoughts to himself.

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