Late last summer, an 8-month old Ella got to meet my parents’ dog, Jenna - a 12-year old lab mix who lost the patience for hyper puppies many years ago (and who can blame her?). Never one to take threats seriously, Ella assumed that Jenna could be up for a play session with a little coaxing. The result was a deafening barkfest in my apartment (miraculously I didn’t receive any complaints from the neighbors - I suspect they may have been too frightened by the noise to come knocking). Here’s a reminder of the raucous:

Flash forward to now. You might imagine that the two of them would have come to an understanding at this point. You might think that perhaps Ella would have gained some maturity, what with her being a little over a year-and-a-half old now. Well, you might be wrong.

Here’s Ella doing everything she can think of to get the tennis ball back from Jenna…well, really she’s just being a total ham and loving that it’s getting Jenna’s goat.

Not to disappoint you, I now present you with “Barkfest II”. Note the devil in Ella’s eye and the proud wag of the tail as she peeks back at the camera - she just knows her audience is loving the performance….