We have a problem with stealing here at the Dieterman household. Fortunately it is limited only to the four legged creatures dwelling here. It started a while back when the wife bought two, identically sized bones from the pet store. Nina (Doberman) and Oreo (Shih-Poo) seemed always to want whatever bone the other one had. This made for some comedic entertainment as we watched each of them take the other’s bone, spend 2 minutes gnawing on it, and then try to take back the bone they originally had. It was like watching two toddlers.
Oreo is by far the sneakiest. He seemed less interested in chewing on the bones than he did in simply having both of them at the same time (usually on the couch and usually underneath him) while he napped. If Nina even walked near him and he thought that she might take one of the bones, he went into defense mode and guarded his possessions.
McKinney (Standard Poodle) adds a new level of complexity to this game. Since her teeth are not quite up to the “big dog” bones, the wife bought her a more suitable bone. As you can imagine, Nina and Oreo lost all interest in their bones and immediately desired this new bone. McKinney, still trying to find her way in the pack order, did her puppy best to fit in. Oreo used his experience and quickly took ownership of the new bone. Nina, who would go through this bone like it is candy, was forbidden by us from using this bone for her pleasure.
That new bone quickly became too small to be of any use to any dog so the wife bought 2 more. Nina was still forbidden (though she does sneak a gnaw here and there) and now Oreo would have his own bone and everybody would be happy. Peace would reign within the pack.
As you might be able to tell from the picture, Oreo has upped his game. In this picture are the two large bones (pre McKinney era), the original smaller bone (closed to his head) and one of the two newer bones. He is enjoying a nap while surrounded by his plunder. You may ask where the other newer bone is located. It happened to be up on the kitchen table where no dog could get to it otherwise Oreo would have had it up with him for sure.
Oreo is so sneaky that he reminds the wife and I of Swiper from the Dora the Explorer cartoon show. Whenever Oreo jumps down from his spot on the couch and tries to take another bone, instead of correcting him in the normal way, the wife and I just yell, “Swiper! No swiping!” and (believe it or not) he understands. For some reason, the wife and I get a kick out of this. The kids just think we are insane.
Jon
No comments:
Post a Comment