My Dinner

Step one in proving who is Top Dog in this house, is establishing who owns the food.

Up till now, Nevis has had an easy life - every day, twice a day, at roughly the same time, he gets his dinner. If a wolf could guarantee his dinner in this way every day he would be the coolest pack leader in the forest. So Nevis thinks he is the man.

From now on, all the food in the house is my food. Mealtimes will vary so Nevis won't know for sure when he's getting fed. After I put his food in the bowl, I have to pretend to eat some of it (this is harder than it sounds, especially when it doesn't smell so good). Once I've 'had enough' I put the bowl down, so he can finish it off - he is just getting scraps from the Top Dog.

And this is the killer bit - once a week, I will be really hungry and eat all of it - so Nevis gets none. (And boy, am I going to feel guilty about it). But Nevis will eventually realise that I am Top Dog.

Or so the theory goes...