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. . . he'd have to CATCH her first . . .

Shelley's funny, I think she's spent too much time around cats. She has very clear notions about what she will put up with and what she won't . . . and it seems odd to me. She adores puppies and will play happily with them for hours, with the bigger ones she will play chase all over the yard, with the tiny fellows (the 10-12 week olds) she actually lies down and lets them run all over her and try to nurse. The only exception was one VERY mouthy little guy whose humans weren't stopping him from chewing on everything living or dead. He started in on her ears, and just in an instant she was all big white teeth and had him on his back with her paw in the middle of his chest. He went "YELP!" . . . but he didn't chew on anything at all for at least ten minutes . . .

With grownup dogs she tends to stand rigid and let them sniff (a submissive behavior I belief) but then frolics and plays. On the other hand, if a grownup dog tries to put a paw on her back, she'll whirl around and give a warning bark and show her teeth. And once when the neighbors' totally untrained and unconfined 90-pound Golden male had the chutzpah to come up to me and bark right in my face in my own front yard, she just flew at him without any warning and put him flat on his back. She caught him by surprise, you could see him thinking "How did that happen?" But he has never barked at me again.

BTW, my take on the situation under discussion (from my limited experience) is that the puppy is starting to feel his oats a little and become an adolescent. . . like all adolescents he's pushing the envelope to see what Big Dog will tolerate. I think he's reached her limit . . .