Missy, the champ

Earlier this year I saw Missy lying next to one of Shorty's toys. It was, in fact, Shorty's favorite toy, his beloved Moose. I thought "Oh, how cute, she just happened to lay down where the toy was." 

 Then I noticed it kept happening. Over and over.

Shorty and Missy get along but they don't play together because Missy, as an older cat, doesn't want to rough-house. And she has perfected the art of intimidating dogs. She learned this when Julienne was with us; just by standing there, without a hiss or a paw raised, Julienne would move out of her way. I had forgotten that she played this same game while we were living in the RV. It worked but Shorty is more confident than Julie so sometimes he got back at Missy. But even then, if Missy decided she didn't want to play by the rules, it didn't turn out like he planned.

Missy hasn't done this for a couple of years but she sure seems to like doing it now. Shorty will take his toys away from us, but not from her. When she is cuddled up to his toys or just lying near them, he sits nearby, stares at the toy (but not at Missy), and whines. Since Shorty is such a toy-hoarder, he's kind of easy prey in this game. It doesn't matter what toy he has, he wants the one he doesn't have.

And Missy, who has never actually played with a dog toy and never will, loves doing this to him.  

Shorty is so possessive of his toys that he won't share them with anyone. He hoarded them away from Julienne, and when Donna dog-sits him at her house, he even steals all the toys from Donna's dogs! So I smirk a little when Missy pulls this over on him.  But today I tried to give her something else to play with - lots of crumpled up receipts. She spent some time batting them around before deciding they were not as much fun as irritating Shorty. But by then he'd managed to sneak in and retrieve his toy. 

Missy didn't want to continue taunting him enough to actually get up. So all is peaceful in the Lambert home again (for today).