
This is one odd-looking dog, wouldn’t you say? I took this photo tonight of Travis when I was putting the dogs up at Widget’s House. He was waiting for his treat. Part of our bedtime routine is that everyone gets a cookie when they go into their crates for the night. The problem is that Travis has a fused jaw, so he can’t open his mouth to eat a cookie. We go down the line of crates, handing out a cookie to each dog in turn, but have to skip Travis. So Travis now gets his own special good-night treat. We have a squeeze tube, the kind backpackers use for things like peanut butter. It’s stuffed with canned dog food, and at bedtime I squirt a dollop into the corner of Travis’ mouth — this is the one place he can get his tongue out between his upper and lower jaw — and he licks it up.
Getting it in requires some hand-and-mouth coordination between man and dog. I hold up his lip with one hand, wait for the tongue to come poking out between his teeth, then with my other hand quickly lay a ribbon of the food on his tongue before it disappears back inside his mouth. As soon as I finish squeezing out the treat, I drop his upper lip so it can help hold the food in place while his tongue works it into his mouth. (I bet that’s more than you wanted to know.) In any case, it takes only a few seconds if done right. If Travis and I misfire, the dollop ends up on the crate bedding and we start over.
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