Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar?

Levi has this tendency to be a little too smart for his own good. He knows what he is and isn't supposed to do, and he also seems to know when no one is looking. When I first moved into my house after I bought it, he had lots of little things to get into, and more opportunities to get into trouble. Around Christmas time, I was getting into the holiday mood decorating the house and baking. I had just finished baking a batch of cookies. Knowing that Levi had been prone to counter surfing lately, I put them up on top of the fridge.

I was watching TV in the living room when suddenly it occurred to me that it was quiet in the house. Not just quiet; it was too quiet. I muted the TV, got up from the couch and called out, "Levi" and whistled: no response. I called again...nothing. I decided something must be up, so I got up and quietly started walking through the house, looking in each room as I passed.

Finally I came to the kitchen, and what I saw at first had me dumbfounded. Levi had silently jumped up onto the counter next to the fridge (where the stove is, so I'm not sure how he did it without making noise), put his paw up onto the top of the fridge, and made his way to the cookies I had just made. When I walked in, he was frozen with his front paws on the fridge, and his back paws hooked into the stove grate. He head was leaned over the top of the cookies, and he had frozen in place, watching me watch him with his mouth open, an inch from grabbing a cookie. We each sat there just watching each other for a second. He was sizing me up, trying to decide whether or not I had seen him. I was trying to process what I was seeing before I reacted. I found my words: "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! BAD DOG!" Levi jumped down off the counter and tried to run with his tail between his legs for his dog door. BAM! It was locked. He crumpled into a quivering lump in front of the dog door, scared and acting ashamed.

He hasn't been up on the counter since.