little ouch

I just sent the dogs outside (they have a dog door, but have to be convinced to go out to the toilet when it has been raining), and noticed that they seemed very interested in something in the back corner.

I go down there and when I tried to move Benny out of the way to see what he was so interested in, he growled at me. No, this can't be good. I ba'd him *see explanation below, and he then ran to the top of the yard. I chased him and realised he had something in his mouth. By now Billy was super interested 'cause it must be something tasty if Ben's got it, so he's chasing him too. So now Benny is growling at Billy and they run around the house and in through the dog door. I caught him, and found that he had what looked like a lamb bone in his mouth, one of those little circular ones you get in lamb chops.

I tried to get him to drop it, but no dice, he doesn't do drop, only Billy knows how. So, here I am a grown woman, trying to pry a lamb bone out of a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. These are not big dogs, he probably comes up to about the middle of my shinbone, and weighs about 10 kilos.

So, I pick him up and put him on a chair, figuring, one, he's trapped, two, he is more at my level so it should be easier to pry out the bone.

Well I finally got it out, him hanging on for grim death, imitating a steel trap with his jaw. I came out of it with a couple of nice indents on my fingers from his teeth.
So little ouch, no biggy there.

What is annoying, though, is that this is the second time I've found my dogs with a bone like this, the other time it was Billy, and he gave it up more easily. What we can't figure out is how they are getting them. Both times it was near the fence of our neighbour, but they have their own dog, and I don't see them giving our dogs bones, or rather just one small knuckle of a bone. The only thing we can figure is that a bird is picking it up somewhere and dropping it in our yard as the spot is directly beneath a gum tree.

Either way, sucks to be ripping bones out of dogs mouths.

* We got bark busters out when Benny was younger as he was barking a fair bit when we moved one time. They taught us we have to show him who is boss. So, in essence we have to act like we are the alpha dogs of the pack. This means making a deep growling noise saying the word ba, which apparently simulates alpha dogs telling off lower dogs.
Do we feel ridiculous? Yes, especially if we have company over.