"Aaaeeeeiiiii!" (I think I'm leaving out a couple of a's and e's.)
Sprite's battle cry pierces the calm as she descends on Blue. The poor beagle sits there, just grateful to be in the child's focus as Sprite manhandles her.
"Ear", she says and grabs one of Blue's long floppy ears, pulling and squeezing. John and I try to free the dog from Sprite's clutches and Blue yelps in pain as the ear tugging becomes too hard to bear. We finally separate the two and Sprite's battle cry sounds again. Blue, who has not learned from the lesson taught 30 seconds ago, again sits and waits for the grabbing and the heavy handed petting to occur.
This is becoming a daily war. Sprite thinks Blue is some kind of pin cushion for her tyrades. "Not nice", we admonish time and again when Sprite is slamming her hands on Blue's tender belly as if Blue is the bongo and she is Tito Fuente. She repeats "not nice" and then starts to tenderly stroke the by now sore skin she was just reddening as she chants, "nice, nice, nice..." almost as if she has to remind herself with each stroke. Then, you guessed it, she cackles and begins the drumming again.
We're trying to teach Blue to move out of Sprite's reaching distance and stay under the radar, but poor Blue, the damn dog is either too stupid to interprit Sprite's motives or just too much in love to discourage Sprite's advances.
Blue has nursed a crush on Sprite since the beginning when they met. When Sprite was too young to do anything more than sit there, Blue would like to lean in and swipe a taste from time to time. As Sprite became more mobile, she was still too slow to dodge Blue's nose and tongue as Blue would swoop in and sample whatever Sprite had been eating that day and was now wearing. Now that Sprite is walking and close to running, the tables have turned and Blue has become the all too eager prey.
I'm sure that one day, long down the road, Sprite will be ashamed and embarrased by her earlier behavior and bully status in the house. And I will probably not help things by reminding her that Blue, the very recipient of her painful love, laid down in Sprite's doorway the first day I brought Sprite to daycare 
(kind of like a canine sit-in), and would not budge until her favorite human was back in her sights. (Luckily, to add to the guilt factor, I took a picture!) I just hope that day isn't too far down the road since Blue will be eight this year. Hmm, maybe Blue's age explains why she allows the abuse to happen. She has patience. Or she's just lazy. (Lazy gets my vote.)
Harry has been avoiding Sprite since the day she started crawling. He somehow knew Sprite would be trouble. Now that she is semi-coherent, "Airee" becomes a warning. Once she says his name, he is diving for under our bed, a region she hasn't discovered yet. He only comes near her when she has a squeaky toy that he thinks would make good snacking or she has found his chew rope. Sprite knows that Harry likes to fetch (..almost as if she's studying their weaknesses and using them to her advantage..no, she couldn't be that advanced, COULD SHE?) and will grab his toy and wave it in front of him so he engages in play. Harry indulges her halfheartedly until he gets fed up and just takes it. (I know dogs can't roll their eyes, but Harry is getting sooo close...)
Of course, we watch her carefully, making sure she doesn't push the limit with the dogs and are careful to stop her from going too far. Neither of the dogs have snapped at her and I'm hesitant to add the word yet to that sentence because I just don't believe Blue capable of it. Harry has never been pinned down long enough for her torture, so he has not had reason to snap at Sprite, but we still watch closely.
The average observer would think our child is a little bit evil in her actions with the dogs, but John and I can see the love behind her gestures, even if her gestures swing a bit wide of normal affection. So, the war continues. Sprite's battle cry once again disrupts the stillness and we must aide Blue in escaping relatively unharmed. Hopefully, some day, Blue will understand Sprite's intentions and be able to move out of harm's way on her own. Or, maybe, she already knows exactly what's coming and just loves Sprite so much, she's willing to take Sprite's affection any way it comes, by stroke or slap.
Poor Blue.
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