Caught in the act!

Jack in a box

Captain Jack Sparrow got his name for many reasons.  One is that he is devilishly handsome and scraggly looking all at the same time.  Another reason is that he is also a sneaky little scallywag who tries to get away with anything and everything!

Example #1:  When we first got Jack and Tigger we were living in Salt Lake City.  Our trash can was the kind with the swinging lid, but we had lost the lid in the move, so it was open.  The can was one of the tall kinds though, so Jack and Tigger couldn't get into it.  Neither Trip nor I ever really thought much of it, until we started coming home to the can knocked over, trash all over the floor, and both animals acting guilty.  We couldn't be sure which one was doing it and it just kept happening more and more often.  

Well, one weekend we were at home and upstairs in our room when we heard a dull 'thud'.  Trip and I exchanged a look and without a word, started to sneak downstairs to catch the culprit.  It is important to note that our kitchen was the kind with 2 entrances, one from the hallway and one from the dining room, both of which connect to the stairs.  We quietly went down the hall and peeked around the door into the kitchen to see Tigger sitting in the other doorway looking very concerned and Jack nose deep in the trash with his back to us.  As soon as Tigger saw us she took off, which caught Jack's attention for a moment, but not hearing anything (I think we were both holding our breath at this point) he went right back to what he was chewing.  Trip stepped into the kitchen and was only about a foot away when Jack realized something was wrong.  He looked over his shoulder, got HUGE eyes when he saw us, and took off running out the other doorway.  Unfortunately for Jack, we also had tile floors in the kitchen and he didn't really move anywhere even though his legs were pumping at 100 miles an hour.  

Trip swooped in and caught him before he was able to move more than a few inches and it was all we could do act serious and not laugh right then.  Later, we laughed until we cried at the look on Captain Jack's face.  I wish I had this moment caught on video!  From that day on Jack never knocked over a single garbage can, though he will still grab anything within his reach.  Who says "shock" therapy doesn't work?

Example #2:  Trip and I got Captain Jack and Tigger just after Thanksgiving in 2008.  Since it was the holiday season there was a lot of activity at our place...food, games, and fun.  This also usually means some crumbs and "treats" left on the floor for Jack.  The Captain is shameless when it comes to food and begging...you would think we never feed him!

One evening that winter, Trip and I were sitting in front of the fireplace eating popcorn and reading (how I miss the cool weather now!).  I had dropped a piece of popcorn on the floor and didn't get to it before Tigger pounced.  She wasn't interested in eating it, only in batting it around, so I let her have it and figured Jack would eat it when she was done.  However, Jack didn't know that it was okay for him to eat the popcorn because I didn't think to tell him so.  A few minutes passed, Tigger had moved on to something else, and I had completely forgotten about the popcorn until something caught my eye.

Jack was standing with his back to me and chewing in the weirdest way...it was quiet, and almost like he had peanut butter in his mouth.  I knew it was the popcorn and thought that it was kind of funny for him to be chewing it like that.  I called Trip's attention to him so he could be amused as well, but as soon as I spoke Jack stopped chewing and I thought he might be done.  We called him over to see if he still had the popcorn, and he came walking over as if nothing had happened so we figured he was done and started to return to our books.  As soon as our attention was diverted, we heard a crunching sound and looked just in time to see Jack chew and swallow the popcorn.  The little sneak had been hiding it from us in his mouth because he thought it was a forbidden treat!

We learned that when Jack acts like nothing is wrong, and won't open his mouth, it means he is hiding something.  I have retrieved game pieces, the foot from a chair, and used tissues from the little rascal's mouth.  We have learned to "child proof" our house thanks to Captain Jack.

Who can resist this begging face?!