Smooth criminal

In Three Men in a Boat - and let's not forget, the full title was Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) - Jerome K. Jerome observed that “Fox-terriers are born with about four times as much original sin in them as other dogs”.

I'm guessing he didn't know any lurchers.

To be fair, Vinnie isn't exactly the Devil incarnate. But he'd probably give a few minor demons a run for their money.

Yesterday, Vince was caught red handed stealing from the kitchen bin. To make matters worse, he resisted arrest and made a run for it with his ill-gotten gains.

It's not like that was a one-off. Leave the kitchen door open, and we usually come back to find a trail of stolen goodies (what sort of dog steals used teabags anyway?!?) leading to his bed.

And it doesn't stop there. This dog is a serial pencil killer; we regularly find dainty piles of chewed wood and splintered graphite on the carpet. (He gave up on pens after he realised the ink-all-over-the-muzzle look was a bit of a give-away.)

Now, as to this picture: You might well be looking at it, going "awww".

DON'T!

He is NOT allowed on the sofa!! (Well...not usually...though admittedly, in the evening sometimes, when we've had a glass of wine, and there's a soppy film on, we might not object to a little furry creature insinuating itself on the sofa next to us....but NOT during the day! He knows that!!)

What you see here is the classic lurcher trick: lying perfectly still and using his chameleon-like camouflage to impersonate a colour co-ordinated scatter cushion.

Ok, so I should have said "OFF" in my sternest voice. But he had just, for once, stayed still for long enough for me to get a half-decent picture...and ok, yes, he DID look cute... so I turned a blind eye and left him to it :)

I've mentioned before that Vinnie hates getting his photo taken. I'm now beginning to think this may not be due to his shyness or fear that the camera will steal his soul; it's that he doesn't want Interpol to get their hands on a recognisable photo of him.