As noted two stories ago, Laika was one of the world's fastest eaters. She not only inhaled every crumb, but then cleaned the bowl, too! It was odd, because this process actually took longer than "eating."
After Laika munched every last morsel of food, her real work began! It was almost as if it was a compulsion, because she would so thoroughly and meticulously lick the empty bowl, all the while wagging her tail. This was not a quiet process, either. In addition to tongue on stainless steel, the sound of teeth on bowl and jingling tags turned her ritual into a cacophony, usually crescendoing in a loud crash as the bowl fell from its holder (or a splash if it hit the water bowl directly). Each time, as if it were the first, Laika would jump from being startled. Then, immediately start wagging her tail in a self congratulatory way!
Laika would sometimes lick the bowl for over 10 minutes if left alone, especially if I went back to bed after letting her out. In order to curtail this behavior, I would either call her back to bed, which didn't usually work or flip the bowl over and tell her, "no more." This would elicit a hard blink from her as she would duck as a natural response. But it stopped her, which was necessary at times when she had treatments in her mouth and extra licking might be bad.
I think her chemotherapy affected her mouth and tongue, which made her want to lick more. Plus, the metal bowl was probably cool and soothing. In order to not totally ruin this joyful practice for her, I would allow her to lick a few minutes before flipping it over. She would be bummed, but change her focus to drinking water incessantly instead!
As with food and treats, this bowl-licking ritual showcased Laika's laser like focus when she wanted to employ it. It was always so funny that the eating took about 10x less than the clean-up! However, clean-up was another of Laika's favorite duties. In fact, she was a regular canine vacuum!
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