Adversary turns puppy protector

You heard about my neighbor getting a puppy, and our 3 dogs being less than thrilled at having some darned kid jumping all over them...

Well, my husband and his dog Ralph go visit them every few days, and Ralph has decided that the puppy is OK. Sometimes he even runs around and plays with her, and let's her flop across his back for a nap. When she gets too enthusiastic with her puppy kisses he simply pulls his teeth back and stares at her and she lays down.

But then there's Pepper and Suzie. Their last meeting a couple of weeks ago went OK, but they still weren't happy about the bouncing she does all over them.

This week they met again - and she could hardly wait to run to them - jumping and wiggling all over. We warned them to be nice, so Pepper got a really worried look and kept trying to get away from her. He hid behind chairs, got in people's laps - whatever it took to keep away from the kid.

Suzie, on the other hand, looked like she wanted to beat up on her. Snarling, barking, snapping - but I soon noticed that she wasn't trying to connect, merely giving a warning to back off. And the puppy was getting the message - slowly.

That part was all pretty much to be expected, but Ralph surprised all of us.

As soon as Suzie started sounding mean, he got up and let her know that she was NOT to hurt that baby! He started growling at Suzie, and the puppy ran behind him and hid! Suzie listened, reluctantly, because Ralph is the boss dog.

Puppies being puppies, that scene played several times in the space of an hour. It kept the 4 of us humans laughing, considering that at first Ralph didn't want anything to do with her either!

Next time I know my neighbor and his pup are at the shop visiting, I'm putting the camera in my pocket before we go out - I just might get a good shot of Ralph in his "You'd better mind me right now" face.