Sunday's Mischief Managed

This is perhaps Penny's most outrageous scandal. It started on Christmas Day, 2008. We took her over to Becky's house in the morning so we could prepare some chicken wings for later, then put the dogs (Penny and Gretzky) in their kennels and headed out to the xmas party for one side of my in-laws. Upon returning to Becky's house after said party, we released the dogs and welcomed our good friends the Rownds who were in town and were joining us for dinner. Everyone had a lovely time and at the end of the evening, we packed up Penny's belongings and went home.
The next day, Joe and I were sitting in front of the television when Penny comes trotting in with a green ball that is most definitely not hers. She had stowed it away in her own kennel so that it would be transported home.
Penny has one toy to her name - a bone - because she destroys toys and this one is pretty indestructible. Not only does she destroy them, she eats them and processes them through her digestive tract - which isn't good when you're talking about rubber bits and yellow fuzz. The funny thing is that she's otherwise not a chewer - never chews shoes or pillows and gave up chewing blankets after she teethed. It has also been hard to play with her because all she wants is for you to chase her and try to get the thing. She's horrible at fetch - doesn't bring the ball to you and even if she did she would just run away with it.
But here she is with this green plastic ball, saying "play with me!"


Suddenly, with this ball and this ball only, she brings it to you for you to throw. She still wants to resist giving it up, but the only word she always responds to ("stay") will make her relent. She also still wants to chew on the ball, but seems to do so much more gently than with anything else.
Like many other things, she likes to roll on the ball. Either getting its scent on her or her scent on it. I don't know, but it's hilarious when she accidentally bumps it out of her reach and then pounces on it like a cat.


Sometimes she's so insistent that you play with her she starts whining. Once when I was trying to finish a knitting project, she came over and put the ball right on top of my knitting.


Here, she's obviously relishing her own cunning at stealing her best friend's possession.