Sneaky Puppy

The above picture is of Kilo half lying on me. He started out with his back to mine and then rolled over and proceeded to kick me. The dog can't even share the floor. ;)

Part of the reason Kilo is so much fun and correspondingly so much trouble is due to his brain. He learns easily and is stubborn enough to know what he wants versus what I want. So, whilst I try to overcome that large brain of his, I thought I'd share a few stories of Kilo being, well, Kilo.

When Kilo was around six months old my mom took him to the pet store with her. We needed dog food and she was puppy-sitting for me. So my mom retrieved the food and then went down the toy aisle. A large stuffed bear caught her eye. She picked it up to look at it, causing it to emit a 'grumbly' noise. Kilo immediately turned to investigate, eyes like saucers, and then promptly touched his butt to the floor, expectantly waiting. Since Kilo tends to be headstrong and stubborn, we try to ask him for a behavior before giving him anything. 'Sit' is the most requested. Kilo saw what he wanted - an interesting, noisy toy - and performed a commonly rewarded behavior. Then he waited, and waited, staring and drooling, imagining how much better his life would be with a grumbly stuffed bear. His huge eyes, fluffy ears and rapt attention wore my mother down - she caved. Kilo got his grumbly bear. Lately Kilo's been using his brain in a new way. A conniving sneaky way. Kilo has several chew toys, some of which he'll get pieces off of. He'll chew and chew until at last a small chunk comes off, then he'll chew and chew on that until . . . his owner shoves her hand down his throat and takes it away. And repeat. Even if the rubber castoffs won't clog him up, I still worry about how much non edible food goes down to his stomach so I take as much of it away as I can. Kilo doesn't really appreciate me stealing his hard earned treats. So recently he's started faking me off. Now he'll get a chuck off, chew it over a bit and when he realizes I've noticed and am about to get up to take it away, he suddenly stops chewing. He hides it! I get up, Kilo stops chewing and then waits. If I look away, deciding he's already eaten it, the mule waits a moment and then goes back to chewing! It's a bit absurd really.