Phoebe's Tails

Oh! Phoebe has been in a mischievous little mood lately. Odds are she tempts fate every day; however, today her game is off and she keeps getting busted. I normally don’t have a camera handy, but I happened to be messing around on my phone. This presented a perfect opportunity to snap a few pictures – not the best quality, but enough to stand up in doggie-court. Guilty as charged.

The thing that I get a kick out of is how she tries to look all innocent when caught in the act. It reminds me of a child who breaks a vase and then stands there, hands in pockets, whistling and looking around as if nothing happened or they didn’t see the culprit.

I know that Phoebe is up to no good when she stands in front of her intended target and watches me intently as  I walk out of sight. It is a typically a tell-tale sign that she really wants to break some rules  Once I am out of sight, she does not waste a moment getting to the business at hand. When I return, or if she hears me heading her way I am usually greeted by one of the three ways she tries to fool me: She will slink away, she will stop where she is and just sit looking around innocently, or scurries and tries covering it up by doing something innocuous. Today, she took the opportunity to use the latter two sophisticated methods.

Her caper this evening started with our decision to have steak for dinner. Steak? Really? Steak? I might as well have waved it in her face.  Steak and dogs – a match made in Heaven. Obviously, the temptation was too much.

She started out in her I-am-just-watching-you-cook position. Fair enough. I walked away to take care of a few things before putting the steaks on the fire.

Seconds later, I hear the jingle of her little tags; she is on the move. She did not follow me as she would normally do. That left the other potential reason: a kitchen raid.

Oh! I was so right! She must have sat there awhile making sure she was safe, because she was just entering the kitchen when I saw her. She must have heard me, because she looked and then hurriedly backed out and sat just outside the kitchen looking in as if it is perfectly normal to sit and watch an empty kitchen.

Busted!

Dinner was cooked and we decided to eat in the parlor. Phoebe did great; no begging or loitering. She simply went to her bed and watched us from across the room. Little did I know that she had bigger plans. Maybe she was calculating how to get her paws on that glorious steak – who knows what goes on in those little minds.

Dinner was done, the table cleared, dishes washed and coffee made.We made our way to relax in another room.A few minutes later, I headed towards the parlor to get something I left behind. When I entered the room, Phoebe was licking the coffee table. She must have been looking for steak remnants. Phoebe noticed me standing there and stopped immediately. The look on her face was priceless.

Double Busted!

I walked away and came back a few minutes later. There she was, licking the table again. She was making progress, leaving a twelve-inch  trail of dog slobber behind her. As soon as she noticed I was there, she sat back to tried to play all innocent.

Triple Busted!

At this point it became a fun game of cat and mouse. It was pretty funny watching her try to outsmart me.

Phoebe suddenly became very interested in what I was doing. She watched my every move and watched as I left the room. She has already been caught twice, so she was smartening up.

I left the room and waited just around the corner. It was not long until I heard those little tags of hers hitting the table.  I was cracking up at this point (yeah, I am easily amused). I popped back into the room, she jumped away from the table and immediately sat as if she was checking out the room.  Obviously, she was not smart enough to know that the slobber trail did not dry up as quickly as her attempt to look innocent.

Quadruple  Busted!

I love that dog. She makes the mundane fun. She is a smart dog, but not as smart as us good ol’ humans. If only my kids were so transparent growing up…