One of the great things about being a pet blogger is that we get to try out the latest and greatest pet products. I'm not gonna lie...getting awesome stuff for free is pretty great. Since I'm all about pet lifestyle and wellness and there are so many great options these days as far as food and treats are concerned, it seems like there's always some new something in the house to enjoy.
N.A.S.H.A. now assumes (correctly) that every package that comes to the door has her name on it. It's getting to the point where opening a box must be done behind closed doors, because she'll immediately start harassing me for the contents. i.e., staring at me incessantly if I'm sitting and giving me repeated dead-legs if I'm standing. She's a conditioned blog-dog.
Once I'm ready to let her try something, I bring it out and take pictures of her with said fabulous unopened delight. Then we go through the legit trial to make sure she loves it...and I take more pictures over several days.
Then I sit down to write.
There is only so much consumption an eleven-pound dog can take and maintain a healthy figure, so by the time I get to writing, she's possibly over-consumed in the name of photo ops. But if I'm talking about a product we love, I like to have the package in front of me, and I like to look at it, read the information on it, and make sure I know the ins and outs. So while I write, I'm doing the crinkle–that tell-tale sound pet packages make when touched by human hands.
The crinkle is torture.
So I've developed a new command: "Nope. Blog post."
I didn't even realize she was understanding me until recently. I must have been saying it for months and months. Dog-gone, I trained my dog!
"Nope. Blog post." Must...combat...the...crinkle. Will play like a wild wolf with my ducky, instead. The struggle is real.–wellmindedpets.com
So instead of getting all excited at the crinkle, N.A.S.H.A. has become conditioned to the command. Sure, she'll look up when she hears the initial crinkle. But when I see her do that, all I have to say is "Nope. Blog post," and she knows she's not getting anything. And then I can pretty much crinkle away while I complete my research. She'll occupy herself or take a nap.
So, fellow pet bloggers, how do your pets fare with the empty promise of the crinkle?
