Alvin's a Cheater

Last night I went to bed earlier than usual and slept in and apparently Alvin missed me because when I woke up he attempted to run up the stairs to get up on the bed but because his back legs are weak he started to fall and I grabbed him, which usually would scare him but he ended up accepting my help and stayed on the bed.  He feels most confident when I am lying down and he ended up standing over me and licked my nose and let me pet him all over.  He was just a bundle of happiness and love! 
We have a new development, whenever I am standing he comes and sits down and looks up at me with great anticipation that he is going to get a treat.  I have to be careful with that because Alvin is so obsessive-compulsive and with his tremendous love for food, I fear he will sit 24 hours a day. What I did not anticipate is that since spending the time with him during his training he has clearly formed a new bond with me.  I knew that a side benefit of training a dog is that they form a stronger bond with the trainer but I have not experienced such an obvious improvement before.  Today he let me scratch and pet him all over and has been so much more affectionate.  I bent down to "talk to him" and he ended up licking my nose.  Goodness knows what will happen if I teach him another command.  Speaking of him learning to sit, when I first tried it this morning he didn't seem to have any concept what I was asking him to do.  He looked to be at complete loss so I gently pushed his little bottom down twice and the light bulb went on and we were back in business.  But now he has started to cheat and wants to only put his bottom half way to the floor.  I don't know if any of it is because of his bad back knees and so I am cutting him a little slack although he sure doesn't have a problem voluntarily jumping up on his back legs to try to get treats and so I think he is just plain cheating, which I kind of respect.

I did the internet interview I had mentioned earlier and all was going well until the woman asked me if Alvin had any quirks.  Ummm, and how long is this interview?  I didn't know I was going to be asked specifically about his quirks and I began to stammer all over the place.  First, which quirk does one choose and then how to explain them in 30 seconds are less?  Many of his quirks have to be explained in detail and with context so I ended up saying something about him going in circles when out on walks and his going to the bathroom on the wrong side of the door at times.  I left out the part him taking off my finger when trying to give him a treat, which is what he did three times already today and I was being careful. I am going to count it a triumph if I end up with at least seven fingers by the time Alvin gets adopted, or even five fingers that at least have one joint still intact.  Back to the interview, near the end of the it I referred interested parties to this blog but I'm realizing that may have been a strategical error because I am noticing that this blog has been utterly unsuccessful in recruiting adopters for Alvin because not even one of you out there has written to inquire how you could be the extra lucky person that gets to adopt Alvin.  I would love to say, stand in line but you have to have at least two people to form a line and I don't even have one yet.  I think the interview is going to air in a week or two so maybe all of you could start now and write things in the comment section begging to be allowed to adopt Alvin.  Maybe then if people come here and think Alvin is in high demand there will be more interest in adopting him.  Just an idea.