Problem Child

For those of you who have met our dogs, you know that they have very different personalities.

Zoey, for instance, is shy but dominant. She is devoted, loyal, and she smiles. She also tends to be the more obedient of the two.

Bella, on the other hand, is a bit of a ditz. She has very expressive eyes, but there's not much going on behind them, if you know what I mean. She is very stubborn, very curious, and very food motivated.

At night, after they play in the yard for a bit, we call them into the house. Nine times out of ten, Zoey is the first one in. Prompt and willing to please her owners, she comes running around the corner and into the house without much delay.

Bella, however, is a different story. Sometimes she comes right away...other times she sees a shiny object and totally forgets what she was doing.

Being the curious one, Bella also tends to hop after things that hop. If she sees an interesting bug, she follows it around. The same goes for frogs. They hop, she hops right behind them.

And we have learned the hard way that dogs have a strong reaction after they come into contact with frogs: they foam at the mouth. Apparently the frogs have a very bad taste, which causes dogs to salivate uncontrollably and then the foaming commences.

The idea behind this, I'm sure, is to discourage dogs from licking frogs.

But Bella doesn't quite see it that way. She sees a frog, and is thus compelled to lick it.

This happened again tonight.

I noticed that she was taking her sweet time getting back into the house. So after a few minutes, I went out to check on her and reprimand her, only to find that yep, she had been licking frogs again tonight.

This happens about once a week at this point.

Cute? Yes. Smart? The jury is still out...

Here's to you, Bella puppy!