The Morning Belle

Oh, look who is at the back door, asking to come in.

This would be great if the dog run that she was supposed to be in wasn't on the other side of the house.
She opened the hole in the fence again.

But I showed her. I went out to the dog run and called her from there and made her break back in. Maybe when she figures out that she only gets to come in one door, she'll wait by that door instead of going a-calling.

Poor girl had a rough night last night. I made a steak on the grill and I ate it while the dogs were out on the front deck. I had some scraps left over, so I put a piece of steak in each dog's bowl with their evening dinner, and I did this in full view of both of them. (Full disclosure: I caused what came next. My fault.)

I let the dogs in and they ran into the kitchen well ahead of me. And the dog fight started immediately, with the roaring and the biting and the yelping. When I got there, Belle had hold of Murphy's neck and he was screaming bloody murder. I naturally descended on the pair of them and tossed Murphy out of the room before unloading on Belle big time for being the aggressor. Then I went and checked Murphy out and found him to be a bit shaken but otherwise totally uninjured. Then I surveyed the kitchen and saw that Belle's dish had been upended instantly while Murphy's wasn't touched. I was able to deduce what had happened pretty quickly after that. Murphy has run in there just ahead of Belle and grabbed her steak out of her bowl instead of just eating his. Belle responded by "correcting" him in dog fashion, grabbing him by the loose skin of his neck just like a mamma dog would have disciplined an unruly pup, and then I got on scene and erroneously jumped on the wrong dog. Poor Belle. And poor Murphy, but at least he got what he deserved, the greedy bastard.

"Curses! Foiled again!"
But dogs are neat in that it took very little time before they were pals again. Next time, though...the treats get doled out hand-to-snout, one dog at a time.