Dog Hijacks Owner's Recipe Video: 'I Had My Back Turned a Second Too Long'
Social media is awash with any number of weird and wonderful recipe videos but few, if any, are quite like the one involving Mariah Michelle and her dog, Cosie.
When it comes to cooking food, Michelle knows only too well that timing is everything. Unfortunately, when it comes to stealing food, Cosie knows the same rings true.
For most of the near-minute-long video in which Omaha, Nebraska, native Michelle shows her followers how to make the perfect sundried tomato and mozzarella panini, her dog is out of sight and largely out of mind.
Yet, a momentary lapse gave Cosie all the time she needed to turn this fun foodie clip into something altogether more hilarious.
Dogs have been eating human food off counters and table tops for as long as anyone can remember. But while it's a practice frowned upon by many pet owners and one likely to land the offending canine an extended stay in the dog house, research suggests it may not be entirely detrimental to their overall wellbeing.
Earlier this year, a study published in Scientific Reports found that feeding young dogs leftovers from dinner, such as non-processed meats, can actually have a positive effect in helping dogs avoid gastrointestinal illnesses like chronic enteropathy.
By contrast, they found some processed dog foods had the opposite effect. Studies of this kind might offer some consolation to anyone who has developed a habit of feeding their dog from the table, but it's unlikely to provide much solace to Michelle.
A content creator living out in California with her husband and their two dogs, most of Michelle's clips center on educating others on the two chronic illnesses she lives with every day.
Michelle has postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), a condition that causes an abnormal increase in heart rate after sitting up or standing up, and Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS), a series of disorders that affect the connective tissues supporting the skin, bones, blood vessels, and other organs and tissues.
Despite the challenges these conditions present, Michelle told Newsweek there are "still bright spots in life" and Cosie is definitely one of them.
"I was essentially bedridden from POTS around the time we got Cosie and alone all day so we got her as my buddy," she said. "The initial goal was for her to be able to do some basic tasks that would help me health wise. She's incredibly intelligent and picked up the training right away but sometimes just gets too excited for her own good so we're basically her emotional support people."
Michelle said Cosie's ideal day would likely involve "cuddling up" with her "favorite toy duck" while getting "unlimited pets" from her mom and dad. The day of Michelle's recipe video might rank as a close second though. After all, it was the day Cosie got a taste of her owner's famous mozzarella panini.
It certainly looked appetizing, with Michelle taking viewers through the various steps required to create the culinary favorite. All that was left was to apply a balsamic vinegar glaze to the sandwich. Unfortunately, Michelle never got that chance. Seconds after leaving the panini unattended, Cosie swooped in, taking the snack in her mouth and making a quick escape.
Michelle returned with a scream of "oh my gosh" but it was too late. The sandwich was gone.
"The original purpose of the video was to celebrate that I'd had a perfect workout week for the first time in five years which is a huge health goal given my POTS so I was doing a video on that while making a sandwich," she said. "I was so exhausted and wanted a quick meal so when she snagged the panini, I was initially shocked because she's usually pretty well behaved with me at this point so the betrayal was real. I was also so tired and just really wanted to eat and then rest."
Michelle said what made it all the more shocking was the fact they had trained Cosie to resist "counter surfing" for food from a young age.
"We can put cheese and peanut butter on the edge of a counter and she'll sniff but avoid eating it," she said. "Even as I was making the panini we were doing some training. I'd actually left it unattended multiple times throughout the video because with a dog like this you have to constantly train. She played along and waited me out though!"
Ultimately, while Cosie "inhaled" much of the panini and landed herself a stay in her dog crate, Michelle wasn't all that mad. "At the end of the day she's just a dog," she said. "They're very opportunistic and I had my back turned a second too long."
Even so, she's going to keep Cosie away when making paninis in the future.
