It’s no secret that Ryan and I are a little too obsessed with Sadie. So, it should come as no surprise that we celebrate her birthday every year. Sadie gets extra love and cuddles but I’m pretty positive her annual birthday challenge is her favorite part of her birthday.
(Oh, and if you object to occasionally giving dogs some people food, you should probably shield your eyes from the horror below.)
Every year, on Sadie’s birthday, we select two foods we think she will love and place them both in front of her at the same time to see which one she will go for first.
This year’s battle:
Rotisserie Chicken vs. Fried Chicken
We always place bets on the “favorite” and this year the favorite was rotisserie chicken.
Whenever I bring a rotisserie chicken home from the grocery store, Sadie is absolutely glued to my hip until it’s either gone or placed safely in the fridge. She goes crazy for a taste of the chicken, so I was pretty confident rotisserie chicken would win, hands down.
We don’t eat a lot of fried chicken in our house and I thought that the crispy coating on the outside of the chicken would get in the way of the “good stuff” in Sadie’s mind, causing her to gravitate toward the rotisserie chicken. Yes, we put some serious thought into everything before placing our bets. (My family also gets in on the fun from afar and rotisserie chicken was their top choice, too!)
We let Sadie sniff both plates ahead of time (after removing any bones, of course) and then Ryan held her back while we said, “On your mark, get set, go!!” And then she was off!
Here’s a short video of this year’s battle if you’d like to check it out:
(For some reason it’s not letting me upload the video directly to the blog, but that link will take you to the YouTube video I uploaded this morning.)
And in case watching videos isn’t your thing, here’s the spoiler:
Sadie totally shocked us by going for the fried chicken first! I was so surprised! I guess she’s a little southern girl at heart.
Breakfast
Today’s breakfast was slightly less exciting than last night’s food challenge, but it was still good!
I made myself an egg white and oatmeal protein pancake, and once again added a scoop of peanut butter to the mix before cooking it in a skillet.
Topped with a slightly heavy-handed pour of maple syrup!
Now it’s time for me to change and head into work at the gym. Hope you guys are having an excellent Wednesday so far! And thank you so, so much for the sweet birthday wishes for Sadie yesterday. It meant a lot and I’m so glad so many of you are just as dog crazy as I am! <3
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That challenge is too funny! I will have to watch that video later. Sadie is pure entertainment. Looks like she had a great birthday!
🙂 i think she was a happy camper with lots o’ chicken!
My dog’s birthday is the 28th, I think we might have to do a birthday challenge this year. He will be TWO this year!
Does Sadie get to eat both plates of food, or just the one she goes for first?
we let her eat both… she’s such a weird eater though — some days she’ll eat all of her food and other days she just eats some of it (she’s a free feeder). since she’s already so thin (which is natural for her breed), we don’t worry too much about some extra food every now and then. we also limit the amount of food on the plates (those are both small salad plates).
My dog is the same way with eating. Some days he’ll eat one bowl of food and some days I fill it three days. He’s very, very active though so we don’t worry too much about it, so if I do this I’ll let him eat both plates too.
My dog is also a free feeder and he eats like that too. Sometimes once a day, sometimes 3 – he’s a Rhodesian Ridgeback. I’d love to do this challenge but I fear he would try to eat the plates…not just the food…
Ugh, three times not three days.
and happy almost birthday to your dog! the annual challenge is a lot of fun!! 🙂
Too cute! I would have bet on rotisserie chicken too! I think our Lab would have just inhaled all of it!
ha ha, this made my morning 😀 I love how she’s all, why are you teasing me??? Oh, I can actually eat it? Nom nom nom
i know!! i was surprised when she looked back for our approval, too!! haha!
Haha that is hilarious and so cute! My dog is turning 2 I’m February and we might have to try that with her, so funny! Happy birthday Sadie!!
I love this tradition that you guys have! I haven’t heard of it before and I absolutely love it! Breakfast looked yummy too. Enjoy your day 🙂
This challenge is so much fun! When I get a dog I will definitely steal this idea from you 🙂
Who knew dogs liked fried chicken? ^^
Haha awww! Fried chicken it is! Love that you guys do this for her birthday! Happy Birthday Sadie!
haha- the video is great! Sadie is so polite!! I think we are going to steal your food competition idea for our pup – so fun!
hope your dog loves it!! 🙂
Hahaha I’ve been waiting for this post! Sadie and I have a lot more in common that I thought! I’d be running to the fried chicken as well on birthday! 😉
haha awww what a fun tradition! our dogs are highlights of our family life, too, and i would definitely assume they’d go for the rotisserie chicken as well.
That video is super cute! I love that she wasn’t sure if she was supposed to be eating it 🙂
I love watching this challenge from year to year! I would have bet rotisserie chicken for sure!!
Haha that’s such a great idea! I don’t know what my dog would do if I laid out two plates like that. She’s a southern gal so she’d probably go for the fried chicken first.
That a girl Sadie! Fried is delicious 😉
I love the video! I went back and looked at the video from when she was 4, I can’t believe how white her fur is compared to then! I have been following your blog for a few years, but that is the first time I heard your voice, it’s so strange how you have a certain voice in your head for someone, but then you hear them and they sound totally different than what you thought! I guess since I’m from Canada I just imagined you sounding Canadian, but you have a very American accent, makes perfect sense. 🙂 Happy Birthday Sadie!
haha!! and yes, she is getting little white hairs all over now! i’m in denial that she is aging though…
this is adorable!!!!
I think this is so fun and I don’t have a problem with the occasional table scraps for the pups!! Just one thought, I would watch out for pancreatitis issues in middle age dogs, especially. Pancreatitis can be brought on by excess fat given to a dog, like table scraps after the holidays. Fried chicken made me cringe just slightly and hope that she is able to digest it without any issues. I only bring it up because we had a dog that suffered from it after we naively allowed him a few too many good table scraps and it can be a very scary condition.
thank you for letting me know about this and i’m so sorry to hear about your dog, kate! 🙁 i didn’t know this could be an issue! and i also really appreciate you bringing this up in such a kind way. 🙂
Wow, she didn’t even hesitate! I love how she didn’t know if she should eat it at first though haha.
I loved the video, especially Ryan’s commentary at the beginning! What a lucky puppy said is – so much chicken!
I love this little birthday challenge. Such a fun idea and such a great treat for Sadie!
what a lucky pup!! shes so lucky to have such loving parents:)
This is so much fun!!! My dog would love this!! Sadie is such a lucky pup to have parents like you guys!
I love that you guys do this! Such a fun idea. Sadie is a lucky pup. Happy belayed birthday, Sadie!
hahaha so precious- I love how she looked back at you guys before eating to make sure it was ok!
So funny! I’d love to do this challenge on some of my people friends! 🙂
Haha that was too cute – Sadie loves her some chicken for sure! I can’t say I blame her either – I’d treat myself to the delicious-not-so-healthy stuff on my birthday too! 🙂
I love these every year! I’m surprised by how apprehensive she is with “treat” food. haha
I love the birthday challenge idea! Such a fun way to celebrate each year with you dog 🙂
Happy birthday to Sadie! You guys are too cute! I noticed you used your cute “mommy” voice to her in the video. 🙂 It happens…any time I talk to my kids or the pup. 😉 That rug looks like the exact one we have in our living room!
I think it is so adorable that you do the challenge for Sadie’s birthday! What a cute video!
All my Abbey gets is a Facebook mention on the date we found her! lol. Poor deprived puppy…
Ohmygoodness! I love the birthday challenge! Our dogs always get Wendy’s chicken nuggets for their “gotcha days.”
at first i saw the picture with the whole rotisserie chicken and fried chicken and i was thinking, damn you guys really DO love your dog can’t believe you are giving her a whole chicken !
haha! no, no. i don’t think her stomach could handle that!
I think it’s cute that you do this every year!
That’s so cute! I love all the traditions. When my sister’s dogs had their birthdays (they’re close to each other), we got them individual doggy ice creams. Before that, though, we had taken them to the dog park in the heat, so after they came home and had ice cream they ended up getting sick. Whoops!
Love the challenge tradition! I, too, admittedly would go for the fried chicken as well, haha. Perhaps she was attracted to the amazing smell of the fried coating… Happy birthday, Sadie 🙂
i can’t even tell you how happy this post and that video made me hahah. hope the birthday girl had a great time celebrating 🙂
Well that was totally fun! So fun that she picked the fried chicken first!
Also so fun to see and hear your voices (for the first time for me). Despite reading this blog for so many years, I don’t remember ever seeing a video (but maybe I just missed it?) Anyhow, it was fun to see you both and Sadie “live”. 🙂
Fun contest! And Happy Birthday again to Sadie!
🙂 thanks for reading for so long
That’s hilarious. What a fun way to celebrate her birthday! I’m surprised by the fried chicken too!
Happy birthday, Sadie! I look forward to Sadie’s birthday challenge every year. I even share it with my family (fellow dog lovers). Can’t wait to show them this year’s!
This is absolutely adorable. I love how you two are so competitive with Sadie 🙂
That birthday challenge is so funny! Every year on Rory’s birthday we get him a Baconator burger from Wendy’s. Definitely not the healthiest treat but he absolutely loves it.
i love Sadie birthday challenges!!! I’m glad you guys keep doing it 🙂
Loved this …. made me smile from ear to ear.
I feel safe admitting this here, but we use our cats to predict winning sports teams. Like for the super bowl, we will label one food dish Seahawks and the other dish Patriots.. and then let them loose. Then we know who to root for!
We also do this to assign chores sometimes too, haha.
Happy Birthday Sadie!
Hilarious. Maybe I’ll try something like that for my Sadie’s birthday!
Good choice Sadie!! Fried chicken is pretty darn yummy 🙂
You guys are so funny lol. I love it! Sadie is such a Nervous Nelly hehehe.
Too hilarious! Oh, Sadie. Glad she had the birthday of her doggie dreams!