Albert visits the nursing home

Albert was gentle enough to visit the nursing home with me for a while.  Some of his  nursing home stories are in How (Not) to Kiss Your Dog. Here he is with his friend Ferne. 

Ferne made the best brownies in the world.  Dogs are not allowed to eat these.  They cannot eat chocolate or they will get sick and maybe even die.  I was reminded of this by Shoebert.

Here is the recipe for Ferne’s brownies.  Oleo is an old fashioned term for margarine.  You could probably use butter instead.  You can also melt unsweetened baking chocolate instead of the cocoa and  oleo.

Ferne's Chocolate Brownies

12 Tbs cocoa & 4 Tbs oleo

2/3 cup shortening
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

1 1/4 cup flour

1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup chopped nuts

Heat oven to 350. Grease 9 X 13 X 2 pan.

Melt cocoa, oleo and shortening over low heat.
Beat in eggs, sugar and vanilla. Sift flour,
salt, and baking powder and blend into
chocolate mixture. Mix in nuts. Spread in

pan and bake 25-30 minutes (check after 20

with a toothpick). Do not over bake.

Albert the trouble maker

One rat terrier is a three ring circus. Two are a three ring circus with the lions and elephants loose. Three are a three ring circus with the lions and elephants loose, the tent canvas having collapsed during an earthquake, all being swept off by a tsunami.  On a good day.

Albert was very good at causing trouble. The rat dog pack was kept in the living room and kitchen area while we were out and at night. The living room was blocked off using a baby gate, the kind that uses pressure to hold it in place. After chewing the tension bar and not having any success, he learned how to throw his body against the gate to knock it over. When I arrived home each afternoon, the dogs would run to the gate and jump against it to greet me. The first time it fell over, it may have been an accident. After that, though, it was clear that Albert knew what he was doing.

When I came home the next day the gate was already on the floor! He had the run of the house, but Hilbert and Shoebert were too timid to step on the fallen gate. They soon got over their reluctance. After that I opened the gate all the way and leaned it against the doorway. If Albert threw himself against it, it wouldn’t fall. This worked for a day. Albert eventually discovered that if he pushed his nose against the edge of the gate where it was leaning against the wall, he could push the gate out enough to walk behind it and out into the house. The other two caught on quickly. There was no way to keep the rat dog pack contained.

I drove a four door Explorer. One of the back seats was kept folded down, so the dogs could run back and forth between the back seat and the cargo area. (I’ve been scolded about not strapping down the dogs when they ride in vehicles, but I was a child in the 60s and grew up without booster seats or back seat safety belts, climbing over from the front seat to the back while the car was moving. And I lived to write this blog.) Albert soon began opening the back seat window by stepping on the button. I thought a first it was accidental, and perhaps it was the first time. I had a master control in the driver’s door that would lock the windows from moving. After I turned it on, Albert continued to jump on his window button and pawed the glass. I think he knew what he was doing.

Look at this face.  Could this face ever misbehave?

You had better believe it!

Albert Joins the Pack

Albert stayed with his mom until he was about eight months old. His people were a couple with three very young – preschool aged - children, one with some learning problems. They were a very busy family. When they bought a house, Albert was living mostly in the yard. He had learned to break the cable tie-out by running back and forth around the corner of the house. The continued bending of the cable would cause it to snap and he would be free. Was he just an active dog or did he really know what he was doing?

With the new house, the kids and the mother dog, Albert became too much. So he moved in with the rest of the rat terrier pack. Here is a photo of the three of them.