It Must be Nice

It is currently 10:00 AM here and I realized that I didn't see either dog in the living room with me, which was odd.  I went into the bedroom to find that both of them are sound asleep in separate dog beds.  Apparently it's still too early in the day.  With that said, if I even thought about a piece of kibble Alvin would sense it and come trucking around the corner. 

Speaking about Alvin taking corners.  A couple of days ago something in particular excited him and he was making a mad dash while trying to go around a corner and ended up skidding past the corner and into the wall.  Ya' just can't win 'em all. 

I have taken to insisting that Alvin sleep every night in bed with me.  He seems to be fine either way but I have increasingly missed having a little doggy in my bed.  Stevie goes in stages and for the past month or so she has been very independent and not very cuddly.  At bedtime I often put her on the bed with us but she tends to jump back down within a few minutes.  The timing is unfortunate because I am quite lonely without my expert cuddler, Timmie and so Alvin's the next on deck.  Last night I put him on the bed and he immediately got in the dog bed that is on my bed.  I decided to see if he would get out of it and come lie next to me, which was less than two feet away.  I was so happy when he did choose to get out of his dog bed and he ended up snuggling right next to me and didn't move the whole night.  I woke up several times to a snuggly dog plastered against me and it was really nice.  This may be an unfortunate development for him because whether or not he was aware at the time, that was his interview for the position of official snuggler of this household and he got the job!  I think it's better for him in the long run and I know it's better for me.

I realize that Alvin is still supposed to be off his feet as much as possible but I feel bad having him always cooped up in the house and so I have started to take him on short walks in the neighborhood or taking him over to my mom's house next door.  My mom has pretty much transitioned back to her house and Alvin has responded better than I thought that he would.  Yesterday when I took him to her house, she was in bed resting and Alvin looked so perplexed as to why that lady who is usually next door with us was now in this other house in somebody else's bed.  He does get plenty of notice when my mom is walking over because she couldn't sneak up on a raging house party right now because of the rattling her walker makes on the street.  At night there isn't a funnier sight and sound than hearing her rattle down the street while watching her with a miniature flashlight in her hand lighting the way.   But I digressed considerably.  Back to Alvin's walks.  Yesterday while walking him in the neighborhood, which consists of a walk of less than 100 yards, out bounded the neighbor's very big black lab, Moses.  Alvin really likes meeting dogs and his initial greeting is deceiving because it's so normal but once he has sniffed a bit he drifts back into his own little world again.  Alvin has met Moses a few times but for whatever reason Moses took a big interest in Alvin and just wouldn't leave him alone.  He started to try to hump Alvin, which is absolutely not allowed because of his surgery.  Alvin ended up getting pretty nervous about the fact that he was not only getting molested in broad daylight but in his own neighborhood.  I removed him from the situation and that poor boy whirled, twirled and circled himself home, while managing to bind my legs together three times in 100 yards or less.   As usual, he was not paying ant attention to his surroundings and just broad sided poor Stevie who didn't even see it coming because it was out of her peripheral vision.  She stood there stunned and then started shaking her head.  I think you all need to start placing your bets as to who Alvin is going to take out first.  I think it would be a good bet to predict on any one of us, including Alvin himself, with the exception of Maddie who is seven pounds of sweet, adorable toughness.

I have come up with another idea for Alvin.  I spend a lot of time talking to him and the first observation I ever made about him was how favorably he responds to high pitched voices.  Last night while talking to him in my high pitched, animated voice I realized that I sound very much like Mickey Mouse and so I am going to find some Mickey Mouse cartoons on TV for "us" to watch to see if Mickey Mouse turns out to be Alvin's long lost soul mate.  How cute would that be?  His favorite show continues to be Dog the Bounty Hunter because of all the action and yelling but who knows?  Maybe Alvin will dump Dog for Mickey.  Stay tuned....