Rosie, the Credit Card Bandit.

My Biewer Bandit or The Day my Dog Chewed my Friend's Credit Card.

I could have titled this blog post "The Moment I realized My Dog was Smarter than I Thought". It's not the fact that she chewed the credit card that makes her so smart. Rather, it's that she saw an opportunity and she took advantage of it, little devil. And I say that with much love for her.

Our guests arrived and we were enjoying a glass of wine before sitting down to dinner. I admit I was distracted by serving my guests and not really paying attention to Rosie.

After a while, I realised my dog was quiet. Where was she? Rosie spotted her opportunity. The sleek plastic card, with all its tempting edges had caught her eyes. Her investigative nature lead her to quietly get into the purse on the floor. With her teeth, Rosie surreptitiously extracted my friend's credit card from her wallet.

Chewed up card reminds me of my teaching days.

In her innocence, she was totally unconcerned when I quickly jumped up and rescued the chewed up card. I assessed the damage.

My friends couldn't help but laugh. (They absolutely love my Rosie and have babysat her).  I apologised profusely and offered to pay for a replacement. The card was no longer functional as it had been chewed up just enough to render it useless. (My friend did try to use it the next day but it wouldn't work).

I wonder how often credit card companies replace credit cards because "the dog chewed it". As a teacher, I remember a few students using that excuse for non-existent homework. One student even brought back 'The Outsiders' all chewed to pieces to prove to me that her dog indeed had mangled it.

Now let me be clear: Rosie is not at all destructive. None of our furniture has ever been damaged by her. She has not ruined rugs or shoes.

When she was a  curious puppy, we "dog proofed" our house, but we forgot about the two power cords for our Apple laptops. ( A $200.00 lesson) She did destroy those with her sharp puppy teeth, and we learned to move those cords out of reach.

What I learned from this card chewing incident.

Rosie didn't mean any harm. She was just being her curious self. So what did I learn (again) because she is my fourth dog and I ought to know better!

• store purses out of reach or behind closed closet doors
• give her chew toys (wouldn't you know it - she really doesn't want those)
• keep my good sense of humour

This experience wasn't all bad. After all, we have a funny story to tell and our friends who love Rosie (yes, they are still our good friends), even bought her her very own credit card when they were on holidays last year in Florida!

And, I was inspired to paint Rosie holding a gold credit card in one paw, and her Lamb Chop squeeky toy (another gift from my American friend) in her other paw.

For other Biewer Portraits see Darling Ozzy, or Start with a Line Drawing Pet Portrait. I also recently painted Eden, another beautiful Biewer, in contemporary colours. For more information about this relatively unknown breed, visit the AKC.

Contact me here with any questions or leave a message below.  I am always delighted to hear from my readers.

"You can usually tell that a man is good if he has a dog who loves him." W. Bruce Cameron. (By the way, highly recommend novels by Cameron. I just finished reading My Three Dogs. I loved it!

Here is a summary from Goodreads:

When a tragic accident separates three dogs from their human, they find themselves up for adoption -- separately. But Riggs, an Australian Shepherd with a heart of gold, refuses to see his family torn apart. After the exuberant and fun-loving doodle Archie and quick-witted Jack Russell Luna are taken to new homes, Riggs' powerful herding instincts send him on a journey to bring his pack back together again. Cameron's signature style shines in this whirlwind of a novel that showcases how determination, instinct, and love can make a family whole once more.