Every once in awhile, we've wanted Mojo to come up on the bed just to hang out with us and get some hands-on attention. He seemed to like it once he got up there ... but getting him UP there was always interesting, because he wasn't buying in to the concept at all.
Jay can pick him up, I can't. So for me to get him up on the bed took a 4-step approach:
- Get under his armpits and lift up his front half while he manages to look utterly bored.
- Scooch him over to the end of the bed while he cooperates not one whit.
- Get his front legs onto the surface of the bed.
- Get under his bottom and hope he'll put in a little effort at this point.
Once there, Mojo would be in hog heaven, and I use the word "hog" deliberately, because somehow, this 75-pound dog manages to consume an entire King bed. No matter how many times he is swiveled to run north and south, within two stretches he's gone east and west and Jay and I are pretty much half on the bed and half out of covers.
Anyway, to have him so close, to watch him relax into us and even sleep so deeply that he would dream (and kick!) has been really nice. We just wished he would initiate this kind of companionship himself. We thought he didn't know how to get up on his own!
So imagine my surprise when I walked into the bedroom after work this afternoon to find His Highness curled up smack in the middle of the bed.
It kind of makes us wonder ... what else does he know how to do that he's not telling us?!
In other news, we've found a toy that Mojo loves and now he engages in games of keep-away and tug-of-war with it. I'd like to include fetch in that, but he's not bringing it back. He'll go get it (most of the time), but forgets what he was supposed to do and wander off. That's alright ... at least he's up for the game!
Thank you for posting this, I was getting worried. This is just wonderful! He is playing and taking over your bed. That is the good life for a dog for sure. When we adopted our Gracie last Nov. one of our sons looked at her and said "You don't know it yet but you just hit the doggy jackpot". Well Mojo hit the doggy jackpot too.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the encouragement, Leslie! People who only see him occasionally are amazed by his progress ... I don't know that we always see it because we're so close to it all, and somedays it really does seem like he's going a little back into his shell. But as long as it's 2 steps forward and only 1 step back, it's a good thing.
DeleteHow wonderful! I was wondering how he was doing - you have quite a following...or should I say that Mojo does? ;-)
ReplyDeleteHow is his training going? Any luck on finding something to motivate him?
He does very well in obedience school ... the goal is to get him to do off leash what he does on it (sit, stay, come). With time and patience (on both ends of the leash), it'll happen.
DeleteWe think we have found a doggy companion through Midwest Lab Rescue; we're just starting to talk to her foster mom so we'll see how that goes!