A Mexican Stand-Off

One evening while I was in a condo I was renting in NJ, I heard the phone ring, picked it up and heard this “Grrrrrrr…grrrr.” After a half a minute, my mom got on the phone and asked ‘Did you hear that?’ “I did” I said, “Why is Abby growling?”


Abby had squirreled a bone away in one of her hiding places and thought Andy was too close to it. She thought Andy was trying to get her boney and was sending Andy a message. However, Andy had no clue what she was growling about. Since she was growling at him, he postured and snarled at her. On this episode, my mom happened to pick up the phone and let me listen in on it.

These stand-offs never resulted in any fights, but they were always funny to watch. The catalyst for these little tiffs was almost always some kind of bone or treat (tooties). Abby loved her treats. She also loved Andy’s treats and Father’s treats. She did all she could to gather all of the treats doled out. Sometimes she couldn’t eat them all at one time so she would hide them. Some she hid well, such as under tables and couches. Other times, she didn’t do a good job and kept them towards an out of the way place in the den. The den was where my mom and the babies hung out most of the time while inside.

Andy liked his treats but didn’t love them. He could be easily distracted from his treat and would drop it, walk off and forget all about his tootie. Abby would swoop in, grab the treat and add it to her stash. She was a fat baby but under the circumstances she could hustle.

These stand-offs were sparked when a dog came too close to the stash or even if one of the other dogs looked at her stash. Abby would flash her teeth and crinkle her nose up. The other dog would feel threatened and respond in kind to her. These stand-offs could go for several minutes at a time. One of them would stand-down by either leaving the room, or one of the people would chastise the babies or simply remove the tooties.