Sneak Thief

I like Burt's Bees. The company is animal friendly, has great products, and gives back. Because my mouth and lips are always dry, I particularly like their lip balm; a bit more pricy than Chapstick, it also works better.

Sheba likes it, too.

Sheba is an adoptable Coonhound mix. She is stunningly gorgeous and, apparently, also concerned about keeping her lips moist. More likely, she just likes the taste of the lip balm and the crunch of the case....

Sheba, adoptable Redbone/Black &Tan/? Coonhound mix

I keep a Burt's Bees lip balm next to my laptop on my desk. It is not alone - the computer cleaning cloth, a box of notecards, a metronome, and various papers are more close to the edge of the desk than the lip balm - on purpose. Sheba had already purloined two lip balms from the this space.

Last week, UNDER MY NOSE, she got her third.

As I and my volunteers prepare for Silverwalk Hounds first annual Open House, the dogs have been sequested from the Front Room due to painting, etc. We have just a week to finish and they are getting antsy. Hounds? Antsy? Hehe.

So, with the paint dry and plans for the finish work in place, I've been letting small groups of dogs into the Front Room when I am here, Sheba among them.

I petted her the other day, turned 'round in my chair to check on another dog, turned back to my computer and heard:

"CRUNCH"

My heart froze, my eyes searched, and by golly, my last lip balm was gone! Sheba struck again. Somehow, she delicately bypassed the other junk stuff to get to her heart's desire....

I lept up, yelling "Leave it!", found Ava Beagle with the cap and yes, Sheba with the entire tube - fine for her but ruined for me. Sigh.

Never a dull moment at Silverwalk Hounds.

P.S. Neither Ava nor Sheba were allowed to finish crunching nor consuming the lip balm or case. I did NOT want to see it come out in the end.