Last week, AT came to dinner.  During the course of the evening she suggested that I buy Beattie a lamb chop from the butcher, for her to gnaw.  Consequently, when I next visited the butcher I asked him for a lamb chop with a nice bone and plenty of meat.  He did not have a chop, but suddenly he disappeared into the back of the shop and reappeared a minute later with a lamb's foot for her!  It was exactly what I had asked for - a meaty bone!

I took the lamb's foot home and decided to give it to Beattie in the evening instead of her usual tea.  I decided she was going to have the bone in her crate so as not to make too much mess.  When I gave it to her she looked a bit uncertain and sniffed at it for a few minutes before trying to 'bury' it in the bottom of her crate.  This meant trying to conceal it below her vetbed.

After a while when nothing had happened, I decided to take her bone away and try again the next day.  Perhaps she was not hungry.  I opened her crate door and bent down to retrieve the bone.  But Beattie had other ideas!  She was not going to allow me to take back her prized posession and growled quite menacingly in a way she had never done before!

Wisely, I thought, I retreated and considered what to do.  I decided to call AT for advice as Beattie had never reacted like this before.  When I described her behaviour, AT was quite unphased and told me that she was just behaving like a dog, guarding her food and warning me off. 

'The trouble is', she said, 'You have already backed off and that is not what the Alpha dog would do.  You will have to take that bone away and risk getting bitten', she concluded.  'My advice is to put on a garden glove and grab the bone quickly whilst the other hand hooks her collar.  You may not get bitten that way!'

I was not brimming with confidence at this suggestion, but said I would give it a go.  I rang off and went to the shed to find my gloves - not easy in the dark!  With the glove on my right hand, I summoned up my courage, took a deep breath and opened the cage door.  Beattie was instantly alert to what was happeneing and went to grab the bone.  But I was determined to win and grabbed it from her before she knew what had happened.  With the bone safely retrieved, I held on to it for a short time before returning it to her. 

This is what AT said I should do.  She said that the message to the dog would be that it was my bone but I was letting her eat it until I decided otherwise!

Triumphant, I phoned AT and when she answered I said, 'Piece of cake!'  'Well done, she replied.  'You have done the right thing now.'

I told AT that Beattie had now decided to tuck into the bone and that all seemed well now.  Little did I know what was to follow ...