Is 5 seconds too long?

The Columbus Dispatch ^ | October 7, 2003 | Dru Sefton

[Sloth]

And don’t think that shaking or blowing will help. ‘‘You may remove visible dirt, but those bugs are microscopic," he said.

Duh, obviously shaking & blowing DO help. Any clearing of visible debris necessarily removes a lot of substrate that may be carrying those microorganisms.

[kevao]

Al Bundy sure thinks it is.

[Aracelis]

Our dog knows if it falls on the floor, it's "legally" hers. Although, she scarfed my daughter's Big Mac and fries just a few days ago. Sarah unfortunately left her meal on the coffee table...

[TonyInOhio]

The TonyInOhio Collorary: Never assume it's a raisin.

[NautiNurse]

[RonF]

In the Boy Scouts we have two 10-second rules:

a) Non-sticky food dropped on the ground can be brushed off and eaten if on the ground less than 10 seconds.

b) Persons standing in front of any one food item in a buffet line for more than 10 seconds are legally subject to a hip- or cross-check.

[Snake65]

If the older and more agile of my two labs is on his game that day, it will never hit the floor!

My Akita used to apply a "thirty second rule" to food left unattended on a TV tray.

I had left a nice hot ham sandwich on the TV tray and was rooting around in the cabinet for a video tape when Elsa the Akita made her move. She walked past the tray very nonchalantly, and with a move that was so smooth I couldn't believe it really happened snatched the sandwich up en passant. She even had the sense to carry the thing in the side of her mouth facing away from me so I couldn't see it.

I really should have yelled at her, but frankly, I was so impressed with very un-doglike stealth and precise execution of Operation Hamsnatch that I just made myself a new one. And was always careful thereafter to give the dog her dinner before making mine.

[Grammy]

LOL "operation hamsnatch" (snicker)

I had a cat that conspired with the dog. He got on the counter and threw a steak down to the dog, then grabbed one for himself and carried it off to a corner.

They both nearly died that night.

[mewzilla]

LOL. My last mew loved people food. He'd cat the bread, the margerine (we could tell because he left whisker and lap marks). Our current mew can't be bothered unless it's fish or bacon. But all of our dogs loved people food. And you reached for anything that hit the floor at your peril :)

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Costanza took up a version of this with the whole "food taken from above the rim of the trash is edible" episode.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Try getting a dog as big as a person. Luckily, mine knows that the table is off limits while we're eating, having been subjected to snarls and growls in the past from me.

[PatrickHenry]

Try getting a dog as big as a person

Tell me about it. One of my Dobermans is 130 pounds. Big enough? Whenever I'm eating, he strolls over, eyeballs everything on my plate, and stares at me. I tell him: "Don't even think about it!" Usually he hunkers down under the table to await scraps. But he always lets me know he's there, waiting ...

[Not A Snowbird]

Goodness, that cat is identical to my Tigger! Same markings, same eyes, absolutely identical.

[PISANO]

So there has been a FUNDED study about this?? I knew this at the age of 3 when my mother would scold me for picking something up off the ground. Amazing that now some 59 years later we need a federally funded study at the University of Illinois to verify something that my 6th grade educated mother INSTINCTIVELY knew and taught her children. Crazy times we live in.

[FourPeas]

We actually had a Thanksgiving turkey attacked by our newly acquired kitten. Apparent the smell did it for him. The little bugger jumped on the kitchen counter growling and hissing, and before my mom could do anything started in on the bird. Truth be known, it was great entertainment even if we were hungry.

Mr. FourPeas' family lost a ham off the dinner table to a St. Bernard. It was hard to blame her, though, it was at perfect 'mouth-height'.

[mewzilla]

Well, I have to be honest here. While I won't eat anything that's dropped on the floor, I will eat something the cat's gotten to. According to our vet, cat mouths are cleaner than people mouths. Hope that's true...

[in the Arena]

Ha! My parents mutt surreptitiously eliminated a whole pork roast in a matter of seconds...my mom left the room and returned with my dad, the roast was gone and the dog was "sleeping" under the table...here's a picture of the criminal:

[mewzilla]

Awwww. For a furry felon, he/she's pretty cute! Kinda reminds me of that Stainmaster carpet commercial, the one with the mouse, cat, and dog? With the ragtime music in the backround? LOL.

[flutters]

I'm loving this thread! What a cute picture!

[in the Arena]

He's three years old and great company for my retired parents. They started traveling via 5th wheel last year and he insists on sitting in the middle of the front seat just so he doesn't miss any action. The people with the small dogs standing on the dash pass by with their mouths open when they see the beast...