When I feed the Prince Charles Cavalier Spaniel, she starts to eat, and then turns to look at me. Hard to tell if it's "Thank you", or asking permission. I always say "Go ahead", in a soft voice. She got a pretty rigid upbringing- if a plate with leftover food is set down for her to eat, even if it is meat or cheese, she will not touch it. When I realized her aversion, I picked it up right away. It might have been cruel to leave it, if she has that much conflict. We believe she was in either a condo or an apartment with only people around to take her outside for excretion breaks. It took us months before we could get her to go through the dog door. And just about as long to get her to sit with us on the couch.
If you get to thinking you’re a person of some influence, try ordering somebody else’s dog around.
