TheBanyanTree: Contest of Wills

[Mark Funk]

Allow me to introduce you to Nyclous, sometimes referred to as Nick or Nick-O-Lie.  Nick is a mutt.  A very BIG mutt!  Nick is a 120 pound Black Lab/Great Dane mix but he thinks he is human and he has a mind of his own.
 
My middle daughter, Kacie, got Nick from the local humane society about 4 years ago.  She had a house at that time but brought him to live with my wife and I about two years ago when she moved into an apartment.  She recently moved into a new house in Denver and brought Nick home to live with her and her fiancé.  When Nick arrived the fun began!  My daughter claims the wife and I "spoiled" him!
 
We think the whole thing is funny but my daughter doesn't.
 
O sure, she thought it was cute when, shortly after they arrived, Nick "claimed" an upstairs bedroom for his own.  He took a quick lap around the house, checking it out, went into the spare bedroom, grabbed a blanket and started making a "nest" in the middle of the room.  Next he made several trips down and back up the stairs to retrieve each of his toys they had deposited by the front door.  He had staked his claim.  The bedroom was his.
 
The real fun started the next day when she went to work.  My daughter's "plan" was to make up a bed and put some of his toys down in their unfinished basement.  Nick would stay down their so he wouldn't get into any "trouble."  She was wrong.
 
When she came home she found some big scratches on the basement side of the door and a definite attitude of disdain from Nick.  Although she offered to take him outside, play ball, etc., he wanted nothing to do with her.  To make sure she knew that SHE was "in the doghouse," Nick lavished attention on her fiancé, when he came home while continuing to ignore her.
 
To her credit she wasn't going to give in too easily so, the next day, back in the basement he went.  That evening besides the scratches and disdain, she found teeth marks on the door handle.  The next night he greeted her, albeit coldly, at the door, having discovered how to open the basement door.
 
By the fourth morning she still had not given up but noticed Nick had suddenly disappeared while she was getting ready for work.  When she was ready she called for him but got no response so she started to look for him.  In exasperation after a lengthy search she finally yelled sternly: "NICK-O-LUS COME HERE NOW!"  As she did she caught a glimpse of him peeking out from their walk-in closet, a closet she had searched.  He had somehow managed to burrow under a pile of clothes on the closet floor.  Her fiancé's clothes as Nick was still not having anything to do with her!
 
At that point my daughter decided she was fighting a losing battle and conceded the contest of wills to Nick.  He now has full run of the house while she is as work.  Perhaps my daughter still won the war.  So far Nyclous has not gotten himself into any trouble or caused any damage while she is gone.  I'm not sure if all is forgiven or if she is still getting the "cold shoulder."
 
Mark
 
  

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