Dinner Routines

The basset hounds have specific routines that they follow at dinner time.  It starts when one of them comes to tell me that it is time they are fed.  Every night at 6:00 p.m.  The lowest member of the pack will come to me and start whining, his way of telling me that he wants to be fed.  If I do not respond to him, the other two basset hounds will come over and whine too.  
I will then take the basset hounds out to the garage for dinner.  As I am preparing their food, the oldest basset hound will dig through his basket of stuffed toys, choose one that he wants, and run back into the house with it.  He will take it and place it on the couch.  It is as if he is saying, “I’m saving my spot”.  He does this every night.  The other two will sit by me while I fill up their bowls.  When I am almost done, the middle basset will bark, signaling the oldest basset that dinner is almost ready.  He will then run back in from the house so that he doesn’t miss his meal.
The basset hounds follow this routine every night without fail.  I don’t know if they all sat together and discussed what part each would play in the dinner routine, but it is interesting that each has his own particular role.