Okay, first for some background: you know all the clichés about dogs getting all the leftovers from their people's dinners, etc? Or spoiled dogs being cooked gourmet human meals? Well, none of those are true in our house. Partly, we're health nuts when it comes to our dogs, so both of them have gotten All Healthy, Best-Brand Dog Food All The Time (which does include nice yummy dog treats, to be fair - just not human treats). Plus, Nika was my first dog, and after spending her first 8 months on the streets, she had a stomach so sensitive...well, without getting into disgusting details, I'll just say it was a really bad idea for her to eat anything that wasn't totally balanced and healthy for dogs. And we've stuck with that policy for Maya because really, it's healthier for her anyway. The only time I ever weaken is when, once a week, I make myself a big cheesy helping of scrambled eggs (with strong, sharp cheddar, milk and oregano). It's our special cheese day, and she gets a tiny, tiny smidgeon of cheddar cheese, about the size of my fingernail, which makes her ecstatic with joy.

So when I settled down to make my cheesy scrambled eggs today, I fed her her smidgeon, she wagged her entire body with pleasure, and then she retired to the end room to sleep on the pillows while I cooked. I made my scrambled eggs, they looked delicious and fatty and lusciously good, I turned off the heat at just the right point, tipped the frying pan to slide the eggs onto my plate...

...And a good 1/5 of them fell straight onto the kitchen floor. Gaaaaaaaahhhh.

I stared at them steaming there, still looking lusciously good. Our floor isn't that dirty, but I do have some standards. On the other hand, Maya doesn't. On the other hand, it's exactly the kind of unhealthy food I would never, ever let her have.

I scooped up the fallen eggs. I looked at the trash can and imagined throwing them away. I gave in and dropped them into Maya's bowl, on top of her kibbles. Then I called her into the room.

I have never seen her soooooo delighted about any food in the world. After she finished devouring them, she sniffed her way past every other kibble in the bowl, just to check if there were any left. Then she carefully licked the kibbles that had actually touched the eggs, for any leftover flavor. Then she spent the next twenty minutes sniffing the whole room for other mysterious, miraculous egg events. Now it's an hour later, and she's just gone back to check her bowl again, just in case any new eggs have magically appeared there.

I'm not doing it again, because I am still a dog-food health nut, and I am 100% certain that fatty, cheesy scrambled eggs are not healthy for dogs. But Maya thinks today was Christmas. And I suddenly have a horrifyingly, dangerously strong understanding of how easy it would be to become one of those wacky people who cooks double portions for all their meals to share with the dog.

Not happening here. It's really not. No matter what Maya thinks...