Toe the Line - or get out of the kitchen

Like any dog, my Humper Dude is a snack hound. We're good about not feeding him junk, but he recognizes Ellen as the "snack lady" and so he patiently sits in our kitchen waiting for scraps of meat, cheese, and chips, or his favorite - baby carrots.

And, he's no dummy either, he knows exactly where "the kitchen" begins and ends - it's the line formed by the light colored carpet in the living room and dining room, and the dark colored indoor/outdoor carpet that is found in our galley style kitchen.

I'm certain my buddy Dude is tired of hearing, "Out of the kitchen." But, I'm tired of saying it too. It seems that his overwhelming tendency to be a mooch has him forgetting anything he learned about boundaries associated with the kitchen.

In the photo above, you can see that when he's on his best behavior and his memory banks are working, he knows exactly where the line is drawn, and he doesn't have so much as a nail across the line. If he does, I motion with my index finger and he'll back up an inch or two to fall into compliance.

Not a bad Dude in my book, just a boy who is as much of a "mooch" as he is a pooch. Here's a video that shows how mindful he is.

Maybe that was just luck. What happens when only his toes cross the line? Let's see...

What more could a guy ask for? What a well behaved Dude.