Loose tomatoes and other dog finds

By Nellie Curtiss ….

Historically, all my dogs have been fed healthy dog chow.  Ask any of them.  When my back turned, or when I napped, they rooted out the best prizes.

A decade ago, and dog-tired, I came home from shopping then fell into a nap.  I noticed that my spaniels didn’t climb into siesta position with me. “Oh, well,” I thought, “maybe later.”

Diligently and before I dozed, I had refrigerated the yogurt and put the avocados on the counter. When I woke from my brain-reset, I wrestled with the groceries I had propped up on the couch. Shifting the avocados on the counter, I thought, “Oh, yeah, I have tomatoes and onions for guacamole salad.” 

So, I scrunched the City Market bags together in my hand and with dogs and cats under foot, I began putting away the goods.  “Ha!”

“And where are the tomatoes?” I wondered.  Then I saw Schroeder, diving onto to the La-Z-y Boy to find a loose tomato still attached to its vine.  “No, no, no,” I said. 

As I looked down, the evidence was all around. Both Lena and Nikki looked guilty.  But I couldn’t tell if Schroeder was speaking the truth or not.  I saw pieces of tomato skins all along the sofa cover, and huge wet spots, too, from the juiciest of the once-and-future “guac tomatoes”!

Nikki’s tummy was pretty taut.  Lena’s likewise. “Hmmm,” I thought. 

I texted a friend who tapped back, “Who would have thought that dogs would eat tomatoes?”  I never once suspected the cats of anything – though yesterday Augie nearly took my fingers off when I popped the can of green olives.

Tiffany was the most feminine of my cocker spaniels.  If it snowed, she would step like a band marching through a blizzard. If it rained, she would make an about-face for her spot.  She wasn’t one for muddy or sloppy scenes.  She waited until I was busy cooking or bathing before she would unzip and dig for her prize – lipstick.  Many a time, I thought I had put my purse where she couldn’t reach it and to discover later just how inventive she was.  She LOVED that lipstick – especially the Cover Girl and Mary Kay.

Looking back those ten years ago, I still don’t know which dog lunged at my bag of apples and ate all of them through the mesh sack.  The missing chunks give away the story.  “They can’t hide from me,” I recall saying to myself.  “Those rascals!”

Sometimes my long-ago friends would chomp their fill from Crayola colors or Prism colored pencils that you can only get from art shops.  Ultimately, the pups taught me to secure the colors in well-sealed tubs or cookie tins.

I still shake my head at how they survived their investigations.  Sometimes, I suspect the acts were psychological in nature.  Obviously, they were trying to get my attention since I was a college professor and always had my eyes on papers or lesson plans back then.  At that time, I didn’t have a “doggy door” to push their probing noses outside.

All I can say, is those pups must have been hungry to root out those tomatoes. Or  then again maybe their New Year’s Resolutions was to eat healthier with or without my help.

— Nelda Curtiss is a retired college educator and long-time local columnist. Reach her at columnsbynellie.com or email her at columnsbynellie@gmail.com