I cannot be bought with a mere cookie!

A woman I work with was recounting how her husband--who is a UPS driver--always has a stash of dog biscuits in his truck. Apparently the "regulars" on his route know him and know that he always doles out dog biscuits. But one German Shepherd on his route was smarter than the other dogs. This particular dog figured out that the stash of dog biscuits is in the truck, so as my coworker's husband started to drive off, he heard a noise and looked back into the truck. There was the GSD acting all nonchalant. "I'll just ride along and have a snack if that's ok..."

Her point was that German Shepherds are smart. Yes, I know that. I have a brilliant genius GSD for a son. And it seems that my genius son also figured out that UPS drivers are good to have show up at the house.

I had ordered a new cell phone and they'd tried delivering it twice, but couldn't leave it because they needed a signature. On the third day, I was was working from home and heard the doorbell. I went downstairs and there was Dieter by the front door, barking and looking at the UPS guy who was standing on our porch. It dawns on me that Dieter had somehow unlatched the gate and was no longer a corralled critter.

I told the deliver guy "one second," and he nodded and held up a Milk Bone! I somehow tricked Dieter to go back in his area (not that he's totally untrained, but when there's a fun guy ringing the door bell, I'm amazed he obeyed). The guy said: "He knows me. I've been trying to deliver your cell phone the past two days." He even gave me the dog biscuit for Dieter.

I gave it to Dieter instead of eating it myself. Now don't laugh...I contemplated it, but then thought better of it. Lloyd forever fell out of his niece's dog's good graces by doing the unthinkable with her Milk Bone. Maia the dog was pretty timid and Lloyd was trying to entice her to take the Milk Bone he was offering her. She hung back, and so finally Lloyd got tired of cajoling her and took a bite of the dog biscuit. Maia barked her head off at him and never totally forgave him for what he did.

Fun to look at, but not worth eating.

The next day, I discovered that evidently Dieter didn't want to hurt my feelings. While he gladly took the biscuit I gave him, I later found it, sitting by the basement door. "Meh, biscuits, bleeech." He's even indifferent to fancy dog cookies, so I give him what he loves: freeze-dried liver treats, Stella and Chewy salmon flavored treats, and freeze dried lung (I know, ick--but it was a training treat for nose works). He has a Wobble Kong and I put his regular salmon kibble in it with a few Stella and Chewy's for a special treat. Now that's fun.

But the UPS guy is still fun, too. It's always fun when the doorbell rings.