Five Dogs And The Law Of Reversed Effort

What I’m I delaying by pushing too hard?

The tile is slippery with drool, and the pack looks ready to attack.

They’re starving, of course. Or at least they act like it.

Two shedding huskies who look more like walking snowbanks gyrate in excitement. The two Pitbulls, one brindle and one ghostly gray, wait for me to drop the tiniest morsel. And the cappuccino-colored shepherd, the biggest of them all, bounces from paw to paw like he’s balancing on nails.

I try to navigate between the pack when each metal bowl is full. A task that would be mindlessly simple if not for the shepherd.

He trips, falls, slides like he’s on ice, bounces some more, and makes a mess of everything. But above all, he slows down dinnertime, delaying what he wants most; food.

Enzo and I — that’s my shepherd’s name — have chatted about this.

“You’ll get what you want faster if you just stop trying so hard,” I say.