When four years ago we drove 150 kilometres to pick up Sunny from his foster carer’s home, he greeted us with joy and enthusiasm, as we did him. It was love at first sight, for him and for us.

While we were filling out the adoption paperwork, the foster carer told us a little about him. She pointed to a circle of dog biscuits under the trampoline in her back yard. That was where he liked to lie, in the shade from the summer sun, guarding his treats from the other dog in foster care.

“He doesn’t eat them,” she told me. “However, he knows they were given to him as a treat for being a good dog, so he is collecting them like trophies!”

That was my first introduction to some of Sunny’s quirky behaviours about food. A circle of dog treats – his trophies, acknowledgement of his good qualities!

Later I realised how sensible he was. He apparently had a loose tooth, and eating hard dog biscuits set the nerve on edge, causing a pain spasm.

It was also why he preferred meat, sometimes with vegetables, to dog kibble. That too was very understandable. His teeth have been fixed, but he still won’t eat anything hard. He has an excellent memory.

***

Last year he refused to eat his meat from his dog bowl – and would only eat from a child’s plastic placemat. I humoured him with this for a while, but I could never figure out his reason for the sudden change. He would go hungry rather than eat from any of the coloured dog bowls I had.

Yet he had manipulated me into giving him an egg whisked with a little milk to accompany his evening meal – and he always licked that up with pleasure from a dog bowl. Egg and milk, yes – but meat, no!

Finally, I tried a plastic picnic plate, and he accepted his food from that for a few months, and then quite suddenly that too was out of favour. He now eats from a small plastic tray, placed on the placemat.

He must be remembering something – was there an ant in his food bowl one time? If so, he will never forget … for he has an excellent memory!

***

This morning I was out, so my husband gave him his little piece of cheese for lunch along with one of his favourite Schmacko treats.

By the time I returned my husband had gone out. Sunny seized his opportunity – he of course again lined up for his lunch, using his pleading eyes to indicate that he was starving. With his excellent memory, he knew perfectly well he'd already had his lunch. I thought my husband had forgotten … so Sunny received another little square of cheese and another treat.

BUT … there was a problem. I had bought a certain brand of treats which apparently were not as favoured as Schmacko treats, and he didn’t particularly like them. But being frugal, I didn’t want to waste them, so I was apportioning them out every few days. This was the day for a less desirable treat. I found it later on his cushion, uneaten.

“Oh, you didn’t want it?” I asked him. He looked sorrowful, took it in his mouth, a little reluctantly, and went outside to eat it on the back lawn.

“Good boy!” I praised him when he returned. “You ate it. Well done.”

I have just been outside – and there it is on the grass! He didn’t want to hurt my feelings by letting me think he was unthankful, so he took it outside, lay on the grass beside it, and returned after an appropriate period of time.

Either he was too full, or he really doesn’t like them at all. They are probably “too healthy”! I have just checked – and found that his favourite Schmacko treats are not particularly healthy.

Like human treats, the things that taste the best are often not the healthiest.

***

We often dine at dog-friendly restaurants and cafés which thoughtfully provide a water bowl for their thirsty canine patrons, but he cannot and will not drink water from “strange” bowls. Not even the bowls of his doggy friends. No matter how thirsty he is, he would rather wait till he gets home. I dutifully carry a doggy bag with all his supplies.

***

He, of course, understands the words “Dinner Time”, and jumps up readily to come into the dining area, signalling to my near-deaf husband by so doing that the meal is ready.

Even if I set Sunny’s meal out while I am cooking, he will never eat it until I am seated at the table.  I thought at first how well-mannered a dog he is, waiting until his favourite person is seated.

But then I realised why this is so. This indicates that I am safely away from the stove, and there is no further danger of setting off the fire alarm, as I have unfortunately done twice. He has never forgiven me, refusing to be near me while I am cooking; he hides in the study. Yes, he has an excellent memory.

***

I dare not drop a cotton bud on the bathroom floor. Twice now I have seen him slinking about with a cotton bud hanging from the corner of his mouth, looking for all the world like a gangster with a cigarette drooping from his lips! I hasten to remove that new and unwelcome item from his diet.

***

Apart from these little quirks with his eating, he is happy to accept most food, especially human food in the form of minced meat or casserole, fish or chicken, or sausages, and sometimes tuna or sardines. They are rated more highly than his ordinary dog meat, varied though it is.

However, lately he has a new favourite food, which he devours even before his egg and milk.

It is packaged into appropriate serving portions for his size, and is filled with nutrients, apparently of good enough quality to please his discerning palate.

I have not taught Sunny to read, which is fortunate, and I don’t let him see the picture on the packaging either. The image is of a cat – and the label clearly says CAT FOOD ONLY.

I’m not going to tell him.