Addicted

It is scientifically proven that caffeine is a real addiction. According to Joseph Stromberg from Smithsonian Magazine, caffeine is a chemical drug that has effects when you try to quit. If you are a regular coffee drinker, you can have light headaches, muscle pain, and lack of alertness.

No, I'm not addicted to caffeine. But Doug is. Doug enjoys the leftover coffee in anyone's cup every morning. It started when my Mom started to give it to him after she was done with hers. It's the very traditional story. One taste and he was hooked. He is very aware of what a mug is now and will jump onto the coffee table to get to any coffee he can. 

Courtesy of my phone

Courtesy of my phone

" I'm just so worried about him lately. He's been distant and really jumpy. I just want to get him help. You know? It's not healthy and he's going to end up ruining his life this way. One day he's going to overdose, and I just don't want it to get to that point. I really love him and I just want to get him the help he needs." -Kendall

(Just kidding. That was fake, I wrote it myself.) If you didn't know, caffeine is poisonous to dogs. When I researched it the effects on dogs were awful, one was death. How is death a side effect? It said that coffee is almost as poisonous as chocolate. Not that my family has ever worried about chocolate. Ed has eaten either Kendall or my Halloween candy each year, many batches of brownies, and even a five pound bag of M&Ms. So I'm not worried. My great grandmother fed her dog eggs and coffee every morning for breakfast, and that dog lived for almost twenty years. 

I'm not worried, but I do have some concerns. I don't know any dogs who like coffee as much as Doug. My Mother's boxer drank beer but that was a one time thing. Doug drinks coffee everday. One day he could overdose on coffee and fall over and die. Well, that actually couldn't happen. What would happen if we went on vacation? Who would give Doug his coffee?

While it's scary to think about what could possibly happen to Doug. I could never afford dog rehab, and I can use his addiction to my advantage. If you show Doug that there is coffee in your cup, he follows you around the house barking and jumping until you give him some. Perhaps, I could use this to get Doug to do anything I want. Coffee lovers don't even come close to Doug. He would go to the end of the earth for coffee. 

*Do not attempt to take Douglas to a coffee shop.

Doug Takes a Shower and a Night of Caffeine

On the night Doug took a shower he had an unruly amount of energy I compare this to my night at the football game because my friends and I had decided to walk to Wasatch Bagels to get coffee. I ended up getting the most delicious black and white mocha, which is a shot of espresso, chocolate, white chocolate, and steamed milk. It ended up being a wonderful thick and powerful master piece. I drank the whole thing on the way to the football game.What this resulted in was a me talking at full speed and spitting out things that don't normally come out of my mouth. I stayed awake and ran around for hours. I giggled and laughed and froze my butt off. I even spilled hot chocolate all over my white sweater. Which I then profusely scrubbed with hot water in the bathroom. Then so I wouldn't have to carry my wet sweater all night I hid it behind a bush in the corner of the field. I then went home and bonked on the couch. I don't even know what caffeine does to the brain. I say this because this it is what happened the night my sister put Doug in the shower.

Although I don't know why the hot water sparked Doug a burst of I do know that energy bursts are common in Bichon mixes. Alike adrenaline and citrus that causes bursts of energy in people, random moments can spark energy in small dogs. So after being shampooed and scrubbed clean he was set loose in my parents bedroom. To my surprise, he was nearly half of his normal size. I guess his fur is almost as poofy as my hair. He then began to run around the bed grunting, barking, and growling. After he decided to dig for nearly half an hour in the same place. Then he ran back and forth over and over again. Until finally he fell over and fell asleep right there. Just like us he gains energy and loses it. He's hungry and then he eats until he's hungry again. It's a cycle. A cycle that happens to every one in a different way. We inhale then we exhale, and then we repeat. And although Doug's repetitive gain and lose of energy is much funnier than most, it's still the same. By the way, Doug on caffeine would be very bad. It's best to keep him away from caffeine for as long as possible and rely on showers to give him his burst of energy.