Banana time at our house is eagerly anticipated each day. Five of our six dogs love bananas. I’m pretty sure my husband hasn’t eaten an entire banana in years. He’s a soft touch that way. The shelties are especially food driven. All the dogs can catch their bite as it is tossed in the air. Zekie’s (the dog on the left) catch makes a nice lip smacking sound since he doesn’t have any canine fangs, having broken them all off in attempts to escape his crate in previous years. Read more about him here. Zekie, My Pit Bull!?

All the dogs know they get one bite and they must take turns. Claire, our newest pack member, still occasionally tries to steal Nikki’s share as Nikki is old and somewhat senile. You can read about Claire joining our family here. Welcome Home!  You can’t blame a girl for trying!

Luckily, bananas are one of the fruits that are safe for dogs since ours’ love them so much. Some fruits are not, and if you are confused about which ones are safe, a quick internet search will provide you with a list of which are safe to share with your canine friend and which are not. Raisins and grapes are particularly bad news.

The focus that a piece of food can hold for a dog is amazing. That’s why it is so much easier to train a food driven dog. Just look at that laser focus. You can teach most dogs to sit in a matter of minutes if you have a piece of cheese or other appropriately delectable goodie. I suppose it is not that different from me knowing when there is a chocolate cake on the countertop and not being able to stop thinking about it. Or those Oreos, or that chocolate ice cream with Reese’s peanut butter cups in it. Come to think of it, I am having a new understanding of my dogs’ focus and preoccupation with tasty food!