Treasured Trove.

Buca crapped in the house Monday. I was lucky. Rhiana beat me home to it. She gave me a detailed description and suggested why our house trained three year old Labrador Retriever and his shiny black coat would commit such an offense.

You see on Sunday, while we were out planning a wedding, the dogs raided our defenseless plastic trash container. We actually kind of laughed when we came home to the crime scene. The victimized trash can lay on the floor with the lid removed like a detached limb. The insides of the trash strewn about like the entrails of a lifeless victim. The only part missing the crime scene was a chalk line around said victim. During the heist Buca managed to get into what we suspected was a bad batch of pancake mix. I know that sounds impossible, but both Rhiana and I had been sick twice out of the same box.

Buca had taken the disguarded box and went to the one place he knows we couldn't see him had we been there. Under the table. We refer to this precious piece of canine real estate as "The Treasure Trove." This is the getaway for Buca anytime he picks up a sock or slipper and wants our attention. He knows it is difficult for us to get to him there. He also knows that because the table is in the middle of the dining room that he can easily escape our arm's reach in one of several directions. By the time we arrived, Buca had spread the powdered batter mix all over his hideout. And the evidence? Well let's just say that our normaly all black dog had a suspiciously white nose with a distinct outline of the area where he could lick part of the evidence off with his tongue.

Buca knew he had done something wrong. His ears were riding pushed back. His head was hanging so low that his whiskers were skimming on the floor. The poor little guy looked like he'd just received a life sentence at Chino's canine wing. He had been so bad that our other labrador, Kayla, had a guilty look on her snout too. Although, I'm pretty sure that she was an accomplice after the fact.

After all of that we couldn't help but laugh. I admit, I was a little upset. We had trash spread through the kitchen and into our dining room. Not the behavior that we are used to and not what we expect out of Buca. But you could tell that he did at least recognize that he had done something he is not supposed to do.

Monday was Buca's day of reckoning. Again he engaged in behavior that we have come to not expect from him. We could only guess that he had become sick from the booty he'd plundered the day before. It was reported to me that Buca had gone back into the dining room and decided to "give back" a treasure to the trove.

We are spoiled. For the most part both dogs were at least semi-house trained when they came to us. Kayla has never had an accident that I know of. Buca struggles sometimes, but does very well. He's had a few mishaps that were more his owners fault than his. Both dogs know how to ask to be let out. Something I have no idea how they learned. Regardless of their action it is my feeling that our dogs have every intention of pleasing us as their owners. And that is why it makes it easier to see the good of situations involving the occasional doggy transgression.

Owning dogs comes with a lot of responsibility. Rhiana recently gave me new perspective on owning the dogs. "It is a very distinct privelege to have a pet." She says she heard that on Oprah. Now Rhiana tells me, "And to think...we have two."

It is a privelege. And an honor. But it has days like Monday too when "privelge and honor" require you to wear a yellow rubber glove to clean up after them.