The Growling Gourmet

The Growling Gourmet

I love alliteration, but I have to say at the outset that my dog Reenie does not growl; at least, certainly not when she eats. I don’t believe I have ever had a gourmet animal companion before, but I certainly have one now.

Reenie was always a “problem eater”. As a puppy, she was seriously skinny and we were always worried about maintaining her weight. She was a very fussy eater, but I understand now it was only because we, foolish humans that we are, were only offering her dog food. As a young pup, she discovered dried Chinese squid, and for eight years, that has become her favourite food; she starts every meal with an appetizer of this food which likely has zero nutritional value. But the dog loves her squid. Because she was so underweight as a pup, I started hand-feeding her to encourage her to eat, something which has continued now for eight years. She would not deign to eat out of a dog dish. I can put three pieces of meat on my palm, and she will gingerly take one, savour it, go off to smell a flower, come back take another, smile at me, take her time, and come back for the last bit. Alternatively, if she is not pleased with what is on my palm, she will take a piece in her mouth and spit it forcefully at my feet.

Now this dog is almost one hundred pounds and is half wolf. To see her gently pick out one piece out of a pile of pieces on my palm is hilarious. She is so careful to be exceptionally gentle. And she truly is gentle every single time. It makes me smile.

Tonight I tried to feed her dinner. I long ago discovered that dog food would not do it for her, and so I cook. I buy stewing beef and bake it with garlic. I cook turkeys and since I only like bones and dark meat, she gets the white meat. Similarly with chickens – I make a lot of chicken soup, keeping the dark meat and bones, and Reenie gets the white meat. Her friend Derrick had cooked a large loin of pork, and gave some to Reenie. So tonight her dinner consisted of, after the squid appetizer of course, pork, turkey, and beef. She turned her nose up at this. She had this menu for the past few days and she was bored. Hungry, but still would not eat any of it. But when I took some sashimi out of the fridge for my own appetizer, she came alive. She never begs for food, but I know when she sits quietly beside me while I am eating something, that she would most likely want a taste. And she did. She loves sashimi. I couldn’t decide it she liked the raw tuna or the raw salmon better, but she ate half of my appetizer. Then I was preparing a dessert and let her lick the bottom of the container – pumpkin cheesecake – she went nuts. Licked it clean. But the thing she enjoyed the most this evening was caviar mousse, left over from holiday celebrations. What kind of a dog likes caviar mousse? How many humans do you know who like caviar mousse? Well, I happen to be one of them who does like it, and now I share it with Reenie because she loves it. With a passion. I think she loves to move those little caviar ball-ies around her mouth just like I do. So we sit in the dining room, or on the bed, or outside on the deck, and we share caviar mousse together. My wolf/husky cross dog and I. Both licking our lips at the goodness of it all. I don’t mind sharing in the least; it gives me great pleasure to do that. I love my gourmet companion.