ANTS!!!!

I understand that no matter how hard you try it's impossible to keep the outside from getting in. That will not, however, stop me from attempting to stop ants from invading my house. Coming home from work one night I was greeted by a distraught dog and thousands of ants crawling over what was left of her breakfast. They only seemed interested in my dog Dagnys' food, so after thoroughly cleaning I moved her bowl elsewhere and they were gone. Simple enough, but I eventually want her food bowl out of the middle of the living room floor and back in the spot by the back door. I tried to explain to Dagny that she really need to eat all of her food as soon as I feed her... but she never listens. After a few days I put her dish back in it's original spot... just to see what would happen. 24 hours went by without a sign. Then after the next day of work, I came home to more ants. I want the ants to go away without using chemicals that will give Dagny cancer or cause her to grow another leg, so what do I do? Internet research revealed that ants have issues with Borax, which I happened to have a lot of in the house. After making sure the area was clear of ants I created a 1/2 inch high borax wall around the dish. Take that ants!! Left over-night with a bit of kibble in the bowl, there were no ants in sight. But when I got home that evening the ants were back. They just crawled right on over the Borax wall with little effect so far as I could tell. Frig! So the next non-poisonous cure is to construct a moat around the food dish. The food bowl rests on top of a small dish which is in a pie pan 1/2 full with water. I was careful not to choose a pan that was too much larger because Dagny would likly drink the water allowing safe passage for the ants. Another day of work passes and I come home to find the usual trail of ants, but none are in the food or the moat. Five ants, however, found their way into her water dish. Perhaps they couldn't bear the shame of returning to the nest empty-handed and decided to off themselves. I had no problem with that. It was the first time I could clearly see where they were coming from, and it wasn't the back door. They were coming up through a hole in the floor for the water pipes under the wash-tub. Giving the Borax thing another try I dumped a few cups worth of it all around the pipe. And now I wait.