Chocolate Sheet Cake - Doggy Style

Yesterday I mentioned that we'd gone to the local Egyptian museum. When we got back home from our lovely educational afternoon, we did the usual routine. Caleb and Bear jump all over each other like they haven't seen each other in a year, and I take my shoes off and quickly scan the apartment. Garbage? Check. Couch? Check. Phew. No mischief from the mutt this time.

Yesterday however, was different.

During my "check", I noticed that the saran wrap wasn't covering the ginormous batch of chocolate sheet cake I'd made the other day. (Chocolate cake made with no less than 8 heaping Tbs. of baking cocoa. Dark chocolate, people.) This in itself isn't that suspicious, it would be just like Caleb to "eat and run". Except that I could see little spots of chocolate on the counter, and while I sometimes wonder if Caleb and Bear are a little more alike than I'd originally thought, Cabe isn't THAT messy when he eats. :) I walked up to it and saw that the entire half of the cake had been licked until there was nothing left. I say licked and I mean it. I don't know how the dog does it, the pan certainly wasn't sitting on the edge of the counter, but the cake didn't have any bite marks. Also, there were tons of flicks of chocolate on EVERYTHING. The wall, the KitchenAid, the spice rack, the canisters, the fridge, the counter, the floor. Everywhere. And when I lifted the pan a long string of drool came up with it. Long, thick drool. I nearly lost my turkey Subway sandwich right there.

After a rather large scolding (Cabe actually lifted the mutt up. Highly impressive...) Bear scooted off onto the deck without any prodding from us, and stayed there for an hour or so. He knew. He always does. Usually we can tell he's done something wrong the second we walk in the door, because his back gets all hunched and his little tail nubbin' is tucked under, and he's only half wagging his butt. This is The Sign.

You might like to know that Bear never exhibited any signs of sickness. This is because he's already had more than his fair share of chocolate in his life. Entire packages of Double Stuff Oreos. A package of Chips Ahoy Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies, a pan of homemade Baklava, an entire bowl of Halloween candy. But that's an entirely different story in itself. We'll save that for another day.

Needless to say? This dog has an iron stomach. And still hasn't figured out that getting into people food means TROUBLE. BIG TROUBLE. Lots of yelling. Isolation. Possibly a night on the porch. Persistence, man.