the greenie patrol

We took this photograph of Sara (left foreground), Mr Max (the white dog with closed eyes) and my mother's golden retriever, Cherry, about a year ago. They were waiting to be given their greenie bones. That's why they are in a group but each has an air of singlemindedness. Greenie bones - for the uninitiated, these are the canine world's equivalent of gummy bears: chewy, vegetable juice bones. It seems crazy, to think that dogs descended from carnivorous ancestors would even care to be near a bone that looks like and probably tastes like coagulated chlorophyll. Apparently not, judging from healthy sales of greenies in pet shops and the maniacal delight of our dogs whenever greenies are brandished. Milo, my mother's other dog, a labrador retriever mix, is unlike the other three; he roundly rejects apples, bananas and carrots.


But even he too is drooly deeply mad over greenie bones. Milo is the oldest and largest in the pack. He is also the alpha-dog. Which means he gets his greenie first.

Dogs are hierarchical creatures, Most of them are highly aware of their status in the pack. Alpha-dogs are confident and self-assured, they know they are at the top and they can usually be identified by their leader-like aura. Sara is the alpha in our home and Mr Max defers to her most of the time. He used to push Cherry around when she was a pup (At two she's the youngest.) He's stopped doing that ever since the big-boned gal began to tower over him.

We suspect that Cherry doesn't realize how big she's grown. In any case she seems happy being No. 4.