Happy dog with a diamond and drugs

Moose knows many tricks. One of his tricks is catching a treat thrown from his nose. To initiate the trick, we'd tell Moose to "hold" while we placed a dog treat between his eyes and nose. We'd balance the treat as he looked cross-eyed at the object. Then, we'd release our grip, he would throw his nose up and catch the treat mid air.

Moose is easy to teach and he learns fast. It didn't take long for him to pick up tricks such as roll over, play dead, spin, spin the other way, stand, stand up, crawl and through the legs. This nose joke was just as entertaining and laugh-worthy as the others... until we got married. 

I always wanted a picture of my diamond engagement ring balanced on Moose's nose. But we feared the idea of finding the ring in feces in the front yard after an attempt gone wrong. In fear that he would throw my ring into the air and swallow it in one fallow swoop, we started practicing, teaching Moose to balance a treat indefinitely. 

It worked. Tonight, Moose balanced my ring on his nose. And then all of his meds for the evening joined. He didn't throw them. He didn't drop them. He just looked at them and looked at us.

After a few moments of appreciating our smart and intellectual dog, and a few moments of Moose wondering what in the world we were doing, the ring went back on my finger. The meds were rolled in a piece of ham, which was then given to Moose. Although it was chomped down without effort, it was definitely chomped down with happiness.

Love my Moose.