The Power of Suggestion

I was standing in front of Ray holding a partially-constructed harness. I wanted to try it on him to make sure it fit before I sewed on the last little bit which I thought was going to be too short. It was past Ray's bedtime so he was cosily ensconced in his chair.
"Hey Ray," I said coaxingly, "Could you get up so I can try this on you?"
I jangled the harness hardware trying to lure Ray into thinking we were going to go for a delightful walk in the frigid darkness.
Ray's eyebrows showed me he was listening but he made no move to get up out of his chair.
I sighed. It seemed a bit mean to drag a sleeping dog out of bed to try on new clothing so I pondered my options.
Followed by my trusty cat, Juno, I went to the treat cabinet and extracted a Ray fave, a dried chicken strip. Still followed by an even more interested cat, I returned to the alertly 'sleeping' dog and waved the chicken strip under his nose. The nose twitched. The head lifted. The dog didn't move.
I broke the chicken strip into pieces and dropped them into Ray's bowl just a few feet away, each one pinging as it hit the metal of the dog dish. Ray's eyebrows listened intently, but still he didn't move.
Juno, always interested in the things that go into the dog dish was examining the dehydrated chicken.
"Ray, Juno's going to eat your treat," I said urgently.
Ray eyebrows twitched frantically, he started to drool, but still he didn't move.
Juno reached into Ray's dish and touched one of the chicken pieces, moving it across the metal dish. The sound of someone potentially eating his treat was too much for Ray, he hauled himself out of his chair and went to investigate. The little cat moved a fraction of an inch away and watched, fascinated, as the big dog ate her new toy.

Couldn't you pick a different color?
I feel like a crossing guard.