Picky, Picky, Picky

Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate.

~Sandra Boynton

“He prefers the ‘yeh-yo’ ones,” said my mother, tossing another yellow M&M to our little black cocka-pomma-peeka-poo mix, Brudy.

“Yeh-yo?” I asked.

“Brudy can’t say his ells berry well.”

“Huh?”

Mom laughed. “When I talk to Brudy, I have to talk in Brudy-talk.”

“So he can’t say his ‘Ls’ very well?”

“Right,” said Mom. “And he’s not so good at ‘Vs’ either.”

She tossed him a red M&M, and he left it right where it fell in the green shag carpeting, but he gobbled up the yellow one she followed with.

“See what I mean? He yikes yeh-yo the berry best, don’t you?” she asked Brudy.

It was before we learned that chocolate was not good for dogs, and since our curly-tailed companion always wanted to eat whatever we were eating, we naturally shared our candy.

At the time, we also thought dogs were colorblind. Today, we know they have fewer cone cells in their retina and see only two primary colors — blue and yellow.

“Can I have some M&M’s?” I asked.

“May I?” corrected Mom.

“Okay, fine,” I said and sat down on the couch next to her. “May I have some M&M’s?” and I held out my hand.

“You can have the ones he’s missed,” said Mom, clutching the bag tight to her chest.

“You want me to hunt around in the carpet looking for them?”

“Someone has to pick them up,” she said, “so it might as well be you.”

Brudy sat at her feet, wagging his tail and wriggling all over in anticipation. I got down on the floor on my hands and knees.

“Come on Bruds, let’s use that nose of yours,” I said.

Brudy tilted his head as if to say “Nose? What are you talking about?”

I started making sniffing sounds and crawled over to a green M&M. “Like this, see?”

He cocked his head in the other direction.

I handed him the green candy. He took it into his mouth, rolled it around a bit, and spat it back out.

Mother howled with delight. “See, I told you! He only likes the yeh-yo ones!”

I sat on the floor next to him and tried to figure out exactly why he’d done that, but he never told.