Boxed In

I've written lately that Boadicea is becoming bossier.  She often ousts Cannoli from sleeping spots.  I've even seen Boadicea snap her teeth at Cannoli when they're eating.  I saw a similar escalation with Pinniped and Willow.  Pinni stole Willow's food and guarded Willow any time she tried to sleep.  Basically, Willow could only rest in the spot that Pinniped deemed appropriate.  If Willow tried to move from that spot, Pinni would attack her.  It's why I had to split them up (it was my very first blog post!).

Boadicea doesn't win every time she and Noli come nose-to-nose.  Cannoli may be non-combative, but  she will stand up to Boadicea from time to time.  So although I'm wary of these developments, as long as Noli doesn't mind, I can't get too worried.

Last week Boadi let Noli have the third level cozy.  Then she decided to nap between Noli and the ramp, effectively cornering Noli upstairs.  My first thought was - oh, no, Boadi is guarding Noli.  But look at that body language - that is a pair of chillin' guinea pigs.  There's no conflict here.

Granted, there's no way Cannoli could sneak downstairs without waking Boadi.  I suspect that wasn't to restrict Noli's movement as much as to make sure Boadi didn't miss anything interesting.  I've been told when I was a little kid I'd nap in the middle of the living room floor, so that if anything exciting happened, I would wake up and not be left out.  I bet Boadicea feels the same way.  This little pig wants to be involved in everything that's going on.

I love how she slept with her head on the edge of the ramp, with those feetsies sticking out.  And so fearless!  With her back and butt towards Cannoli and the rest of the living room, she's obviously unafraid of anything coming to get her.

Then, after a day of grousing, yelling and chasing, I find them sleeping together, tucked in the corner.  (You'll have to take my word that they were both sleeping - Cannoli goes on high alert as soon as I pull out the camera.)  I have to face it - they're a bonded pair that just enjoy bickering and snarking at each other.