10-4 Magazine July 2024

I’m not saying you need to talk to a veterinarian, as that is against the dog’s code of conduct, but maybe they could help you pick a good food for my age and breed. As a final note on feeding, as I stare at my driver, it’s important to feed your dog twice daily, never “free feed” me. As much as that would be easier, we dogs are totally aware that looking forward to a meal twice a day is better than staring and picking at an old pile of kibble in a bowl. Another reason is that when you let me pick at food all day and just fill up the bowl whenever it is empty, you have no idea if I am feeling a bit sick that day. When stoic canines like me don’t feel well, we sometimes just eat less, and our drivers might not notice. To be true, we dogs will not tell you either, so feeding twice daily gives you a better idea if we are on our game or not. Although any excellent dry food will be just fine for all I need in life, it doesn’t hurt to give me some rollers, as I mentioned, or chicken (meat only), and some of your healthy table scraps. Avoid the deep-fried breading if you can, although it tastes absolutely heavenly to me. I do like quality wet food too, which if you want, mix it in my dry food, as long as I eat the entire bowl. Don’t leave wet food out in the truck, as it dries up, and is just nasty looking. About ten percent of my diet can be truck stop food, as long as it’s healthy for me. Yes, I am aware that I ask and beg and drool 10-4 Magazine / July 2024 67 trying to get that last piece of burger and fries, but I don’t always think of what my bowels are going to say about that in a few hours. As I said before, pick off that breading from the corn dog, and I’m thrilled with the hot dog inside! Water is the most important issue, regardless of how hungry I may be at this moment (though I’m not at all sure I agree). You see, I am nothing like those drivers that drip sweat trying to tighten a strap or binder, and I can’t complain about how sweat drips in my eyes while standing in the sun talking to a chatty forklift driver. The reason is most of my body doesn’t sweat. This is why my tongue is hanging out all the time. It’s my version of an evaporated cooler. Like my driver, I require water to function. I want and need the option to drink water at all times. This can be accomplished by a non-spill water bowl that comes in all sizes – made for the smallest dog to the largest. Try to give me a regular bowl full of cold water and I’m sure to either wait until it spills everywhere and rots the cab carpeting, or I’ll drink it all at once and be thirsty while you drive across interstate 90. Some bowls (see photo) have rings around them that allow them to contain sloshing back and forth and bouncing through construction sites. You can find them at most pet supply places online, and they vary in quality and size. If you settle on a plastic water bowl, please clean it out weekly or they can make my water taste nasty. Plastic tends to hide bacteria and, in some cases, comes from countries with less quality control, so chemicals can be present that I really don’t want to drink every day. I don’t want my bowl looking like the inside of my driver’s “free refill” coffee mug that is forever stained a burnt brown color. Personally, the stainless steel bowl is preferable to me as it can even be sanitized in boiling water – it also makes the water look more inviting, my own thing, but there you have it. Like the food you feed me, water should be fresh and clean. If you wouldn’t drink it, I shouldn’t be asked to either (regardless of the fact you saw me drink out of that nasty drainage ditch at the Flying J truck stop last time we stopped). There are one or two things I should mention about my desire to be with my driver and what I’m thinking, as a dog.