Counter surfers BEWARE

I have a foster dog, Vivi, who is the softest husky on Earth. Possibly the softest creature ever. She is so sweet, loves to play and is a wonderful snuggler. She does have one tiny little problem.

Let me tell you a little story. There was me, my twin daughters and a fellow husky foster mom grilling steaks one evening about two weeks ago. (Do you see where I'm going with this?) I had just the week prior to that picked up Vivi from a shelter and took her into my home. One would think she would be grateful, right? Well, here is what happened. After the steaks were done, we all adjourned into the kitchen to fix our plates. Of course, everyhusky I have was in there with us. The steaks were pretty big so the 4 of us humans split one steak and left the other 2 sitting on the platter toward the back of the stove. One of my daughters, the other foster mom and myself all went back out on the deck to eat, leaving a teenager and all the dogs in the house. Once we finished eating, we let the dogs out to hang out with us. My daughter who was inside had since gone to her room. The rest of us enjoyed the cool night air for a while with the dogs until it got too cold. We then gathered up our dirty dishes and went back inside. As I was putting my plate in the sink, I noticed the 2 remaining steaks were gone. I foolishly assumed my daughter, who had remained in the house, put them away.

After inspecting the refrigerator and not finding the steaks, I took a look around. I keep a towel on the floor of the kitchen near the water bowls to absorb some of the water the dogs dribble all over while they are drinking. The towel was wadded up and there was salsa stains on it. I had found my steaks, or at least the telltale signs of where my steaks had been. Vivi is not a big dog by any stretch of the imagination. She only weighs about 40lbs. And, as I said, she is the sweetest little love bug. How is it that I know she is the one who took the steaks? Simple process of elimination. Bart hasn't stolen any food off the counter or table since the peanut butter and jelly sandwich he stole from my daughter when we first started fostering him about a year and a half ago (he is now our forever baby), so that takes him out of the running. That, and the fact that he sat at the back door and barked at me the entire time I was eating. The other dogs are all to short to get up on the stove so that eliminates them. Which brings me back to Vivi. It just goes to show that no matter how cute, sweet and fluffy a husky is, do NOT trust them! Ever! Especially with 2 huge steaks! I was so looking forward to making myself a steak and egg breakfast burrito the next morning too!

I have vowed to never let the incident be repeated. We grilled steaks again this past weekend and left the dogs outside while we ate our dinner standing at the kitchen counter. Before I left the kitchen, I put away all the food.

Bart's mom
(why is it that I am changing everything I do to accomodate my dogs? could it be the big tattoo on my forehead that says "sucker for huskies"? who has been teaching these huskies to read?)