Lack of Possession Is Still One-Tenth of the Law

For a somewhat dominant and hyper dog, Pappy is pretty oblivious to possessiveness. I'm not just saying that he's not possessive, though he's not. If another dog drinks from his bowl, no big deal. If another dog snags his ball, he's long-suffering. He'll pathetically follow him or her around until the ball is finally dropped. As for food, another dog doesn't have much chance to test him since Pappy is a speed eater. But a human can take his bowl or his favorite treat from his mouth, and he's copacetic about it.

But when I say he's oblivious to possessiveness, I'm saying that he is clueless that other dogs might want to keep their stuff. Pappy's sweet dog-cousin Ruby has the misfortune of being a comparatively slow, slow eater. When each of them is given a pig's ear, Pappy snarfs his down and then is relentlessly lurking by Ruby as she is just getting started. Ruby then has to stress about guarding her treat from the looming spectre of Pappy, fending him off with an occasional growl. Last night we went by my brother's house for dinner. While Ruby was getting fed, my niece and I had to form a protective Pappy-proof barrier so that she could chow down in peace. Pappy kept testing the line, but we held.