Story 75: Partners in Crime: Laika & Heisa

Laika and Heisa were best pals when they lived together. It was weird how well they got along, honestly. Laika would usually try to steal toys from other dogs, namely Ramona, but with Heisa, there wasn't much competition. They simply loved to chill together most of the time. Some might say that they were thicker than thieves...which sometimes actually involved "crimes"!

At the beginning, Laika was a terror outside and very good inside. Heisa was the opposite. Elaina and I joked that they combined to make one good dog and one bad dog! But time and attentive training allowed us to help our respective pups balance their constitutions. Still, they were good at getting into mischief when they put their minds to it.

Whether it was a book being eaten, food being pilfered or an errant accident, their hijinks were usually on the lower end of the serious spectrum. They were persistent, which made us speculate that maybe they would scheme them in advance and wait for the perfect time to pull them off. Regardless, they were partners in crime.

Additionally, they were also partners in trying to cover their tracks...or at least they thought so! Upon returning home to something amiss, both Laika and Heisa would sit stone-faced while the offense was discovered. Elaina and I were not strict disciplinarians, but the dogs knew when they did something "wrong." The first few times, their act worked, and it was hard to figure out which one was the perpetrator.

However, they soon changed their approach and without knowing it, incriminated each other inadvertantly. They did this by changing their body language and actions when discovered. Instead of wearing pokerfaces, the innocent party would position themselves between the discoverer of the crime and the other one, wagged their tail as they shielded the guilty one from our gaze in an attempt to distract us. The "criminal" would sit with head bowed, trying not to be seen. So, it was pretty obvious who dunnit, as they say.

Regardless, it was quite impressive how protective they were of each other, despite their behavior's accidental incrimination. Seeing how much they cared for each other like that was pretty heartwarming and made Elaina and I both happy that they had each other as roommates and partners in crime.