Murphy--Alert but ungrateful.

Yesterday, Mike the UPS man came by with a couple of boxes. Murphy hates Mike because Mike dares intrude upon his domain, and Mike is more than a little fearful of Murphy, who barks and jumps and snaps at him with dark intent every time he comes up the driveway towards the Lair.

This time, Murphy is inside with me when Mike comes, and he's going ballistic at the window. Before I can get out there, Mike has set the boxes on the edge of the deck and pushed them carefully under the rail. I open the door to get them and Murphy also races out so that he can continue roaring at Mike. But as Murphy get to the boxes, he stops and notices that Mike has put a dog treat on top of the boxes just for him. He contemplates it for half a second and snaps it up. Then, with his mouth still full of the gift, he jams his head between the deck rails and continues to bark at Mike, his barks somewhat muffled by the mouthful of cookie goodness that he's still chewing.

Silly ungrateful dog...