Ice is Nice

Both Emme and Rudy love ice cubes as treats. When I am working in the kitchen, Emme and Rudy dash to the kitchen and do a "down/stay." Rudy goes down and stays down for as long as I am working. I can even go to the back porch or the mailbox and he stays down on the kitchen floor waiting for me. Emme, on the other hand, knows good things come from lying down on the kitchen floor. She doesn't have the staying power that Rudy has so she is up and down a dozen times as I prepare a meal. During one of the down times, I like to catch her doing it right and I say "Good dogs. Good down/stay." Then I give them a treat: a puppy biscuit, carrot, cherry tomato, piece of vegetable or ice. Rudy chomps right down on the ice and Emme licks hers, throws it up in the air and pounces on it, or waits. Sooner or later Rudy will drop a chip of ice from the ice cube he is chewing. Emme would rather have that. It is small and has Rudy spit on it. What a treat! Go figure.