The Faithful One

So back in September, one of our black lab mixes was revealed as the true terrorist that she is - hunting down and consuming two of our dear sweet hens.  (See here for the back story.) It's not that we don't love Kinzie, but she had to go.  
So, as some of you know, Casey, the faithful and meek lab, remained with us and the chickens.  

Casey now has three hallmarks of an only dog.  

First, she expects copious amounts of attention.  This manifests in a very specific pattern of behavior - when Ryan or I walk outside, she scampers ahead, throws her body on the ground, contorts her back and legs to ensure optimum belly is exposed, and waits expectantly for a belly rub.   More often than not, Ryan and I will indulge Her Sweetness with a quick scratch on her belly or chest.  I realize this is only reinforcing the behavior...operant conditioning at its finest.  But what can I say?
I'm Lindsey. And I'm an addicted dog belly scratcher.

Second, when I get home from work or from being away, Casey is my shadow.  She'll greet me at the garage, scamper ahead to the lawn, throw herself down for the above-mentioned belly rub, then after I go in the front door, she'll race around the front of the house, onto the porch to meet me at our kitchen/deck door.  

Here she is on Saturday, after I got home from getting groceries.   

I wove wou. 

And finally, Casey likes to be as close as possible to Ryan and me at all times.  Besides greeting me at the kitchen door (where she then lays down to curl up), she sleeps in the corner of the house closest to our bedroom.  While some may think this a coincidence, I believe otherwise.  When both Casey and Kinzie were here, they both slept out in a shed on the other side of the house.  Casey continued sleeping there for awhile, but eventually moved to the corner of the house outside of our bedroom.  It's sweet...for an outdoor dog, it's the closest she'll ever get to sleeping at the foot of our bed.  

Now, if we could only get her to stay there all night rather than waking up and barking at the non-existent threat that seems to capture her attention between the hours of 2 and 4AM. 

Hmm...we'll have to work on that.