Babysitting Willie

We had the opportunity of watching Willie again. This time for 8 days while Mom & Dad Poe went on a cruise. We were a little nervous considering the hatred Willie has for Bella, and Bella never ending enthusiasm to play with him. The saving grace, which Willie found early was high places. Bella was not yet able to jump up to chase him. The only time they got along was on walks. Willie of course was on a mission to mark everything in the neighborhood, and Bella just happy to be outside.

It didn't take long for Bella to find the infamous mad kitty. Willie's most favorite toy! At first, Willie pretended to not care, but we could tell he was not pleased, but eventually (about 6 days into the visit), he decided to get protective, and determined that saving Mad Kitty from Bella was more important than avoiding the over-energetic puppy. He would find the prime opportunities where it would be easiest to save Mad Kitty, and safely transport the toy to higher ground. Sometimes he would not get it quite high enough, and Bella would come and grab it off the couch, this processes continued for a while, and then Willie decided enough was enough. He needed to take more of an active role in his protection.

We thought it was pretty amusing.

We wondered if mad kitty was the key, so we attempted to let them fight over sneaky kitty (Bella's version It of the same toy)

It didn't seem to matter. Near the end of the trip, Willie determined it was actually a fun game, and began baiting Bella. His growl also improved from the anger growl to the play growl. I think we needed that long of time with them together to finally see a breakthrough in their relationship.