The Magic Door

By Fred
Jam has been with us for less than a week, and already he knows the routine, even letting us know when he needs to go outside and busy-busy. Obviously, some credit for this goes to the SEGD puppy people, who are doing a great job getting the puppies ready for the outside world.

But then there is Jam. Over the new few months Cheryl and I will make a case, and we will prove beyond any doubt, using scientific methods, that Jam is actually the smartest dog alive. Yes, the smartest dog.

His giant intellect does not come without some drawbacks. In particular, Jam quickly learned that the source of his food supply is just outside the kitchen door, in the garage. Nothing engages his mind more than meal time, which comes three times a day--not nearly often enough for Jam. His obsession about food reached a high point yesterday when he mistook my every trip to the garage as a trip for food, and he jumped and squealed whenever I would open the door.

So this morning for breakfast I took his food bowl and I walked out the back door, around to the garage, and back with the food through the back door.

Of course Jam was still waiting in the kitchen, staring at the magic door. I called to him and he briefly appeared, squinting at me holding his food bowl, looking at me as if I had completely lost my mind. Then he ran back into the kitchen, where the food should be.

I rattled the bowl and put it down, and he could no longer deny the truth.

Later Jam held the food bowl in his arms and whispered to it, something like "don't ever do that again."