2.04.2014

February 3, 2014

White Dog is patient when it comes to sharing "her" spaces if one of the White Dog Army is sick and needs to join us on the bed, or when I hold Oso as she sits in our chair so that Steve can feed him the medications he needs. She even is understanding if one of the pups is upset or requires extra comfort.

But she can be a little testy when she feels that she is be usurped or that some pup is forgetting who exactly runs the Army.

As Bella, our Tiny Dancer, becomes more comfortable she is beginning to explore more and test her boundaries. She has begun to run out from under the protection of the chair to snatch treats from Steve's fingers as he sits all of the way across the room. Bella often follows one or another of her siblings around, copying their activities just, I think, to see what happens. This has led to fun zoomie romps with YoYoMa; "jungle" hunts in the overgrown corners of the yard with Puff; and trying out Oso's nighttime basket/bed. White Dog doesn't mind a game of "follow the leader" as long as she gets to be the leader.

This morning, however, Bella crossed the line. For weeks she has been curious and has jumped up on the bed after White Dog is awake and off starting the day and while I am showering and doing human a.m.  things. Steve has discovered her several times but she always jumps down too quickly for him to capture her photo.

Today, it was grey and cold and snowing. White Dog slept in, crushed against my legs, snoring in the comfort of our shared warmth and the quiet of everyone else off supervising Steve's school work.

I felt the tiny feet exploring the edge of the bed as Bella stood on hind legs to assess the situation. I shifted slightly so if she decided to be bold that she could come up between the edge of the bed and my back...I would be a barrier wall to not disturb the sleeping Queen. That was not good enough for the explorer.

She moved toward the bottom of the bed and tried again; this time rewarded with a warning growl from WD. So she simply went around to the other side of the bed, where YoYoMa sleeps and jumped up to take over the spot Steve normally fills. Her audacity continued as she positioned her head on Steve's pillow but then stood up to nest and rumple the blankets so they were more shaped to her needs.

White Dog had been softly growling during all of this but refused to yield her spot against me. She pressed even closer and whined to me. The intruder to our sleep in was more than my girl could handle and she soon jumped down to join the others with Steve.

Bella, relished the spot only until I said, "How nice, a chance to cuddle together, Bella Bee!" Then she was off in an instant, her nails clicking down the hallway. No cuddle partner to keep me warm, it was clearly time to rise and start the day for me as well.

3 comments:

meowmeowmans said...

It is so fascinating to read your accounts of how the WDA figures all these things out, Sue! Sorry your cuddle partners all got up to start the day ... so much for sleeping in, right? :)

Jo's World said...

Does Bella want to be The Diva in Training? Good luck on that!

Cheers and hugs,

Jo, Stella and Zkhat

Tweedles -- that's me said...

I think their trying to work it out in their own way.
love
tweedles