Sharing

I wanted to take a minute before bed to mention how great Mabel is at!

Like all dogs, she does not like to have her toys taken from her, especially the rawhide chews!  When Twister tries to steal her chews from her, she gives him a little "Grrr", and he walks away.

At first, I was worried that she might have a little bit of resource aggression, so I watched her very closely.  I realized quickly that she just didn't want Twister snatching her things.  He can climb on her, lay next to her, even tug on her ears, while she has a chew, and she is just fine, until he tries to take hold of it.

Mabel does not act this way with other toys, such as the rope, or the football.  She has been playing tug-a-war with Twister quite often.  She also does not act aggressive about her food.  Surprisingly, after being an only dog in her last foster home with Angela, she is not bothered by sharing.  She and Twister have a few times traded bowls at meal time - which of course I try to discourage, mostly because they are on two very different foods at this stage.

But today we had a breakthrough that surprised me greatly!  Mabel had her chew, and Twister was being - well, a puppy!  He wanted that chew, and nothing we could do would deter him.  He even had a time out in his crate because he was aggravating her so badly.  Finally he learned, and just laid next to Mabel with one toy or another, and we figured that was the end of it.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Twister pounced on Mabel's head, and got her to wrestle with him, and drop the chew.  As they rolled around, Twister saw his chance, and snatched the rawhide!  Mabel went to grab it back from him, but instead just sniffed it, turned around, and came to sit on the couch.  I was so proud!  Mabel was told how happy we were, and what a good girl she was.

Now  only hope that Twister gives her some peace and quiet tomorrow, so she can enjoy her rawhide! :)