Ellie's Just as Bad

Ever since Ellie has been a young pup we have had a harness on her 24/7 instead of a collar. She has two plaid harnesses, each with two engraved plates containing all her pertinent information - her name, my name address, and phone, number. The last thing I need is her to get out of her collar when she is straining on her lead any time we have her out in public. ("We" haven't quite perfected walking on a leash like the books suggest. Ellie never has been one to follow the books, but I digress.)

It is not unusual for Ellie and Abby to be tussling on the floor. And, they "play" fairly rough with teeth bared and quite a bit of  "friendly" growling. Even though Abby is 24 inches tall on her shoulder and Ellie is 8 (at most), you will never see Ellie backing down from a fight. If all else fails, Ellie will go for Abby's ankles. But, though they look like Mutt and Jeff and fight like teenage sisters, they are best buddies and you rarely see one without the other close behind.

Sunday, I looked up to see Abby dragging Ellie across the den floor by her harness. When I commented to my DH, his response was, "I am so tired of your accusing Abby of everything. Ellie is just as bad. In fact, she usually starts it." "Well, that may be, but Abby plays very rough and it's in Ellie's nature not to back down." "She just needs to learn. Abby is fine." OHH KAY, case closed. Ellie, honey you are on your on own.

Then later that afternoon, when the pups came in from "playing" outside I noticed Ellie was no longer wearing her harness. I pointed this out to my DH and went outside to look for it. My DH came out to help and we came to the obvious conclusion that Abby must have pulled it off during one of their little "encounters". After combing the yard twice, my DH found it in the bed of liriope. The most curious part was that the harness was still buckled, which meant that Abby had pulled it off over Ellie's head.

Fast forward the next morning. The pups came in from their morning romp. Ellie was, once again, sans harness. My DH immediately when outside, and after going over the yard and under all the shrubs,he was unsuccessful in locating the missing harness. Ellie just looked up at me with this, "Can you please just put something on me?" look. Abby just had her normal, "What me worry, let's go play," look. Even I knew there was little my DH could do, I think he realized we had a problem. 

Of course, I am not saying Ellie is an angel. Last night, as I got ready for bed I had to step over Abby who was sound asleep on the floor at the end of the hall. I found Ellie, looking very guilty in the kitchen surrounded by the contents of (what was) a bag of trash. This was the first time Abby was not around to take the blame. As I looked at her, Ellie slowly backed out of the room and put herself in her crate, knowing she had been caught red handed. 

As I crawled into bed, I told my DH about Ellie and the trash, admitting that she, too, could get into trouble and that he should be proud that Abby had nothing to do with it. "Well," he confessed, "that was only because she was asleep and missed out on the action."