the rounding of Bella Jean

Bella loves milk bones ..... or "milketies".
She loves the milk bone marrow snacks ..... or "cruncheties".
& of course she loves Pupperonis ..... or "ronis".

At present, she is laying with me on the couch, quite tired. She just went through quite a bit of work convincing the cat, William, that he should share his milk with her. Bella also loves Whiska's cat milk ..... or "billy milk". Come to think of it, there is not too much that Bella doesn't love.

She knows that William is the alpha of the house (We all know that and act accordingly.). William gets a bit of billy milk every morning. Bella knows that if she hangs out after her morning potty acreage check, she will get a taste of billy milk too. Usually, she voraciously laps all of hers up while  William picks at his a bit then relinquishes his spot. Never to leave anything to waste, Bella cleans up for him. Such a helpful dog she is.

This morning, Bill did not move away from the billy milk. Instead he lay down in front of it.

Often when Bella begs or wants someone's attention, she pulls her ears down real low then moves them back making her head look like a little brown ball. She widens her eyes into soft brown saucers. Then she sits quietly and stares. Sometimes she will emit the smallest of whines. We call this "rounding", as in "Bella is rounding for treats" or "Bella is rounding me." And of course, when she does this she acquires all sorts of nicknames including but not limited to: Rounder, Bella-go-round, her round highness, lil' roundhead, ring arounder rosie.  Of course, after a while we usually give in & she gets her treat. Usually but not always. We try to maintain some pride. But man! She is one persistent dog!

So, it was quite interesting this morning to watch Bella round the William cat. Sitting a polite distance away from him, ears dropped down and back, eyes wide. Gazing innocently at the one-eyed alpha cat who looked back - slightly curious and with a touch of disdain.

Then, he relinquished his spot. I like to think that he gave into the roundheadedness of Bella. The rounding of Bella Jean is a quite difficult thing to resist. However, in all likelihood, Bill simply grew bored with the staring game.

Whatever. Bella lapped up her prize. She is now next to me on the couch contentedly snoozing, all curled up into a little round ball.