The Fried Piper?

Our dogs love french fries. It's as if places like Burger King and McDonald's sell the world's greatest dog treats...at least according to Booker and Chewie. We try not to give them very many, but if we pick up fast food and bring it home at lunch time, we can pretty much assume that the begging will start when we get there and not end until the fries are gone. Chewie will sit next to one of us and be as cute as possible, while Booker will sit politely and repeatedly offer to shake in exchange for a fry.

They will get two or three fries each, and act as if this is the best thing that has ever happened to them. It turns out that the fries can also be a good incentive to get them to do what we want, too. Yesterday, Chewie didn't really want to go back into his crate so we could go back to work. (He seems to think, despite all evidence to the contrary, that he is trustworthy enough to be left out free in the house.) To encourage him to go, I grabbed a french fry for each dog and play the part of the Pied Piper. It worked wonderfully, and they both went right where they were supposed to in exchange for the fry. I just have to wonder if I might have taken it too far when I acted as if I were sprinkling holy water on Chewie with the fry while repeating, "The power of fries compels you." (cf. The Exorcist)