I'm dobbing on you!

My two dogs are litter-mates, brother and sister, and people are always surprised that Mia is the dominant one. Well, she is quite a bit bigger and stronger, and more of a smarty-pants. Someone has to be the boss.

She used to be satisfied with tricks like abandoning her chewy toy to steal the one Elvis is working on. She also makes him swap bowls repeatedly as they eat their food, so she can take full advantage of her much faster eating speed. And every now and then she gives him a thorough licking (literally) in a parental sort of way.

Lately she's gotten more grouchy. She'll growl at him randomly - sometimes she's protecting her favourite spot on the couch, even though he's not even trying to get up there - but sometimes it's for no apparent reason. Just to let him know she is the boss. And most especially, Princess Mia is boss of the bed.

These days Elvis doesn't even jump up there at bedtime. Left to his own devices, he'll go to sleep on the blanket on the floor. Fine, more legroom for me. But then, in the wee small hours of the morning, I wake up to a pathetic doggy crying sound. He'll be sitting on the floor at my side, waiting to be picked up and placed on the bed. He's afraid that if he just jumps up, he'll land too close to Mia and get snapped at. He's probably right. I should note that Mia never, ever growls at us. She knows she's only the boss of the dog pack, not the whole household. I've told this story a few times, and always get the reaction 'awww, that's SOOOO cute!' Not at three in the morning it isn't. (Well, actually, I can't back that up. It is pretty cute).

Elvis got his own back today, though. I heard this little yowling sound, as if he wanted the back door opened so he could go out. I knew it was already open though. When I looked in the laundry, there was Mia, chowing down on some dry dog food that she'd stolen from the packet. No way was she sharing with him. So he dobbed on her! I rewarded his snitching with a few pieces of food.

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