Don't Let Him Fool You...

This shorty may be sensitive and need affirmation when James is home...

...but when James is gone, he sure does a good job of taking on the guard dog role!

I don't have any pictures of Obadiah when he's showing his teeth, growling, or letting out that ferocious bark of his when he's mad, but he sure does a good job of bringing out that side of his personality when necessary. Today was one of those days...

The basset was asleep and I was toying around with our budget when someone started pounding on our front door and incessantly ringing the doorbell earlier this afternoon. Mind you, I absolutely never answer the door when I'm alone unless I'm expecting someone -- whether it's a friend, the cable company, etc...you just never know who's going to approach the house, so I'd rather just not deal with it otherwise. So for someone to really be going at it, I wondered what was up. It didn't take but a few seconds for Oba to wake up and race to the door to see what was going on. When he saw the man, he started growling in a really nasty way -- we only hear such noises when he's really mad. I went to go peak out the dining room window to see who it was and there was another man waiting in some old beat up truck with a cooler in the truck bed with some shady looking advertisement on it near our mailbox (it was still running) -- not exactly someone I'd want to deal with. Well, while I stood there waiting for the dude to leave, Oba kept growling at him with his tail straight back like he was ready to bite the guy's leg off, ha. The guy started sweet talking Oba through the door saying, "Hi, puppy!" in a creepy voice and with each word that came out, Oba growled louder. I absolutely loved observing Oba in action! He wasn't going to take crap from this dude, as he was protecting his momma, haha.

When the random dude finally gave up and decided to leave, he literally sped off like he was in a race -- how weird! I was amused though by Oba's actions directly following this incident. He immediately switched back into the happy-go-lucky basset and pranced over to me wagging his tail. I couldn't help but laugh. The pup has a split personality!

I praised the sweet boy for the good job he did at looking after his house and gave him a treat. After gently taking his jerky strip, he pranced along to the living room to enjoy it. Well, it wasn't but a few minutes later that the old man passed out under his blanket. I guess such an afternoon called for a long winter's nap. I mean, that type of guard dog duty can wear ya out!

I like his eye pillow...

When I snapped that shot, he woke up and looked at me like I was disturbing him...

But it didn't take but a second before he decided it wasn't worth the energy to grumble so he went back to sleep...

What a day -- for the basset. I always get a kick out of watching him protect me when we're home alone. James never gets to see this side of Oba, as he only does it when James is gone, but it's amusing to hear about. Who would think a short little basset would have such attitude?