Oh Rosie - you're so funny!

She is!  She's a funny little dog.

She is very much a bundle of over confidence, which hides a much meeker dog underneath.

Take her behaviour when she's out of the house and sees another dog.  If it is small and black & white, it has a slight chance of not being barked at.  Which is because it might be Patches from next door, who she likes.

Anyone else and be prepared to be bark-bombed from a great distance.  As the oncoming dog gets closer, so she changes from barking to snarling like some ravening beast.  It's just as well she's only a bit bigger than a shoebox, or we'd never be able to take her anywhere.  As it is, there's only a few places she can go without embarrassing us!

It's all lies, I tell you, lies!

She doesn't just make a noise - oh no.  She hurls herself bodily at the perceived interloper.  Which is okay if the new dog is just saying "good grief, what's up with you?" but is no good at all if it's saying "right then ~rolls sleeves up~ I'll teach you who the boss is!".

However, if someone was to let a banger off outside the house - she'd be up on my lap, quaking, faster than you can say "bang!".

On watch - complete with reindeer

She defends her patch - both house and garden - with a lot of barking and racing around, but is very happy to trot out and say hello to the postman.  Thank god, nobody's told her she could bite his leg if she wanted.  However, cats and squirrels are a different matter.  They are, without doubt, lunch.

I iz holding dis boy down fer yoos ..

The few times she has escaped from the garden have been cat-induced.  She discovered that she could leap up on top of the compost heap and fly over the top of the garden fence.  So Daddy had to move the compost heap.  That made him happy.  Not.  Mind you, walking around the neighbourhood at night time, in sub-zero temperatures, wearing just a t-shirt (because he was so worried about her and didn't stop to grab his jacket) and carrying an empty lead and a flashlight, didn't make him particularly happy either.  Especially as she got home before he did.  Oops.  Baaaad girl, Rosie!

She is, however, just the funniest little dog you ever did see.  Her ears are shaped like devil's horns - which would explain her character.  She loves to have a cuddle and will dive under the duvet quicker than the rest of us when bedtime gets here.

Iz my Bonio, an' you can'ts has it

On the other hand, however, she makes the worst noises when you want to move her from where she's laying.  It's not a growl, or a snarl, it's a moany old woman's complaining. No other description for it.  If you insist on persisting, she'll sound like she's getting ready to bite your face off - but it's all just grumbling.  She sounds so awful sometimes, that she has earned herself the nickname of the "vicious missus".

Exhibit A : the "I shall die if you leave me!" look

Her favourite thing, at the moment, is to come out in the car with us.  Whenever we begin to get ready to go out, she's paying attention and sits in the hallway with her "woe is me" look on her face, which morphs into "I shall die if you leave me!".  All that is required is an open front door and the flick of a thumb and she's off to the car, jumping vertically into the air in excitement.

Open the car door and she's in, into the front footwell, turn around, jump through from the front seats to the back - and then runs from side to side, looking out of the window.  She scans for walking dogs, you see.  Then, when one is spotted, she bark-bombs them - and so deafens us.

Such a peculiar, funny, little contradiction of a dog.