When Melvin get’s excited (which 95% of the time is when a person is coming over to say hello) he is overcome with (and always gives in to) extremely strong urges to put things in his mouth.  He does not opt for anything in particular, whatever is close by will do.  Shoes, kongs, magazines, pillows, sofa cushions. Most items he does not chew or swallow but some he does, mostly if they are small or able to dissolve quickly in his ginormous, drool filled mouth.  If the visitor pets Melvin for a moment then stops to say hello to me, Melvin will take this opportunity to find something new to put in his mouth, very much in a ‘Don’t look at her, look at me, I’m eating BLANK, I’m hi-larious!’.

This weekend we ran into one of his dog walkers on our walk.  Melvin was beside himself. How could this even be happening, two people who walk him in the same place at the same time?  What the…  He ate leaves and cigarette butts and more leaves and more butts.

$10 bucks says he develops a smoker’s cough.