Rolling Dog Farm Blog

It’s tough to keep a girl on a diet when she seeks out every opportunity to steal, harass and intimidate other dogs into giving up their meals to her.  Widget is incorrigible when it comes to food.  I caught her doing one of her sneaky little maneuvers the other evening — "I just happened to be walking by when I came across Uncle Dillon’s food dish, just sitting there on the floor in front of me."  She’s actually been lurking, waiting for the right moment to strike.  Dillon is the slowest eater we’ve got, so he’s always a good prospect for Widget.

You can see she’s not quite sure of herself because her tail is down … she’s not worried about how her Uncle Dillon will react, he’s a big push-over and lets anyone steal his food … but she knows I’m nearby and isn’t confident she’s going to get away with this.

In this next photo she’s just about got her head in the dish to clean up whatever Dillon has left.  She doesn’t know why I haven’t stopped her yet, but she’s going to take advantage of the opportunity.  She might think I have my back turned or have my head stuck in the fridge, or maybe I’m just taking photos of one of those pesky Dachshunds and haven’t noticed her yet.  (When you’re blind it’s hard to assess your risks, you know?)  In any case, she has the means, motive and … yes, the opportunity:

And then … drat! … the voice of authority (that’s me) booms from behind the camera:  "Widge – jit!  You leave Uncle Dillon’s dish alone!"  She doesn’t mind being caught in the act of eating another dog’s food if she manages to score.  What she hates is being caught just seconds before she scores, when she’s so close to the dish she can almost taste the food.  To paraphrase an old expression, "Close, but no kibble."  So here’s her slinked back, "don’t forget I’m innocent until proven guilty" look:

Old Dillon, by the way, gave us a scare over the past few days by struggling to get sternal, as you see him in these photos.  But he’s doing better this evening. We just take it day by day.

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Update on Rooster the Belgian:  I drove into Missoula late this afternoon to pick up Rooster and bring him back to the ranch.  So far he seems to be doing just fine.