Chiquito Bandito...

Fall Break Trip 082, originally uploaded by diahn.

...the chocolate-stealing perrito...

Funny story for ya - This is Chico. Chico was my mom's dog, but she was really busy working her last couple of years before she retired and Chico was a bit neglected and she asked me if we would take him - knowing that I'm a sucker for a cute little furry anything. So, we did. He was a bit of a pill when we first got him (thanks, Mom) but he's really mellowed out and is not so snappy as he was when he was younger. Could be because he's too fat to lunge at you anymore - I don't know...

Anyhow, one time, when Dr. SmartyPants was off at a SmartyPants conference I had gotten the boys to bed early and went off to find my purse, in which was contained a beautiful, king-sized Hershey's chocolate bar. Now - you know the one I'm talking about - twice as thick as a normal Hershey bar - rich and delicious? Yeah - that's the one. I found my purse, sitting on the floor in the dining room and opened it up...No. Hershey. Bar...

Anyone who knows me realizes that this was a major shock to my system - I'd spent all day thinking about that chocolate bar and how I was going to savor each individual chunk as it melted on my tongue. So - I started hunting, thinking that maybe I had taken it out of my purse earlier in the day and just forgotten about it. I couldn't find it anywhere. BUT - I noticed little Senor Chico cowering in the corner of my bed - little brown nose sticking out from under the bedskirt.

I lifted the bedskirt and lo and behold - under there was the contraband. Well, the evidence, anyway. The entire chocolate bar had been consumed by an 8 pound dog. He even ate some of the wrapper.

My first thought was, "I'm going to kill him." My second thought was, "I won't have to. He's eaten enough chocolate to kill himself." You know - chocolate isn't good for dogs. I watched and waited for him to go into chocko-shock, but it didn't even phase him. Not a bit.

Except for the guilt.