behavior - love it

Last night we were watching a movie; and of course Luke was snuggled on the couch with us.  Elsa was still wandering around having just eaten; she does her customary snorfling for crumbs.  Luke decided that he wanted to chew so he got off the couch and went and got one of the many chew toys we have.  When he decides to chew he chews hard, it was only a second before Elsa realized what Luke was doing; her job as reigning puppy is to take anything that Luke has so she went to work.  I was coming in and out of the family room at that point and Luke's teeth caught my eye.  He was showing Elsa his pearly whites as big as he possibly could; it is rare that I see this big of a display, but he was trying to convey his message.

Being the effervescent puppy that she is; she tends to brush things off from Luke until he is really serious.  Thinking he was only kidding she pushed it.  I put down what I was carrying and went and sat on the chair beside the couch to get a good vantage point.  Elsa was nosing in and Luke froze; even with the full display of his teeth she was still going to try.  His froze threw her, this move meant that he was more serious.  In all fairness Luke does do a lot of displaying which is usually bluff when directed at Elsa and she knows it.

When she really really wants something from him and he is saying no she grovels.  She lowers her body posture, closes her eyes to a squint and licks Luke's mouth, even when he is displaying all of his teeth at her.  Of course this typically works great and Luke is distracted by her cuteness long enough for her to steal the toy.  These girls are smart I tell you.  He is then left looking like he cannot believe that she got him yet again.  But last night was different; he obviously wanted to make a point.  He was on the couch, she was not.  He had the toy and she did not, bottom line.

So after he froze she pushed every so cautiously inward; he gave an abrupt bark and face bite at the same time which startled me and Elsa.  He wasn't kidding and she was shocked, really shocked.  I then moved over and sat beside Luke to get a better view point, I love behavior as you all know.  So there sat Elsa not knowing how to go about getting this chew; Luke really wanted it or at least wanted her to know that she was not having it.  She then moved close to me and pushed her head in between myself and my arm to get a peek at the toy.  This was very smart, she was now very close to the toy but wrapped in the safety of me, Luke would never growl at Mom.  She pushed and I held her from touching the toy so she pulled her head out and sat staring at Luke and he at her.  She dove in my arm again to see if she could steal it that way, I didn't let her.

Then she had a tantrum; she sat right in front of Luke and barked.  Her barking resembles the sound coming from a chimpanzee when she throws a fit, it is very annoying.    Luke wasn't even phased by this immature display of emotion.  He continued to chew, loud and hard.  When she could stand it no more she tried again; she put her front feet up on the couch and moved in.   You could see that he was softening; maybe he was done with his lesson for the day and he let her lick his mouth but when she reached for the toy he stopped her there.  But it wasn't long after that Luke all of a sudden pulled his head away from the toy and let her have it.  It was very obvious that he no longer cared and let her snatch it away.  Of course the fun was now over and realizing this Elsa brought the toy and pushed it onto his head.

She dropped the toy that she had so badly desired right between his feet and licked his mouth.  She'd finally got it and now gave it back to Luke.  Luke took it and then she started her stealing behavior all over again.  This lead to an all out brawl; Luke got off the couch and they moved into the living room for a wrestling match.  She knows how to push his buttons and he is loving it.