My daughter had a cocker spaniel who was mean, but certainly smart. She had gotten him a rubber cheeseburger squeaky toy. One evening around suppertime, Beau was nosing his supper dish around on the kitchen floor and nobody was responding. He went to the other end of the house, got the "cheesebugga", brought it to the kitchen and dumped it in his dish. We got the message, all right.
So what does it mean when my girls put my hair things in their food bowls on top of their food and then whine about being hungry?! ;)