While visiting with our Great Uncle recently, he told us all about the dog he and Grandpa had when they were boys. By the sounds of it, Cookie had a very good sense of humor. For you see he helped Grandpa pull a very funny trick on our Great Grandpa.

Great Grandpa insisted that every Sunday he would serve a special dinner of roast beef, that he would personally cook. Problem is, it wasn’t the best roast beef. In fact, our Great Uncle claimed it was more like shoe leather and inedible. But Great Grandpa wouldn’t listen to them, so that’s where our Grandpa used Cookie to prove their point.

Grandpa taught Cookie the “leave it” command with just a very subtle hand gesture. No words were needed, and Cookie was more than happy to be in on this joke. That week when Sunday dinner came around Grandpa dropped a piece of the roast beef on the floor for Cookie, while simultaneously doing the hand gesture without Great Grandpa noticing. Cookie stared at that meat, but didn’t take a bite. To which Grandpa proudly proclaimed, “See! Even the dog won’t eat it!” The table erupted in laughter and applause, well except for Great Grandpa. He sent our Grandpa upstairs to bed without any dinner that night. But that’s ok, as my Great Uncle quipped, “he was the lucky one that day!”

However, years later Grandpa sure could have used Cookie’s help to get out of an awkward situation. You see he was dating our Grandma, and her family invited him and his parents over to dinner. What did they serve? Roast beef! Unfortunately though for Grandpa, when complimenting his soon to be in-laws on the delicious meal, he said, “Wow, we should have this at our house.” To which Great Grammy awkwardly responded, “We do, every Sunday!” Oops! Awkward!