TheBanyanTree: It's difficult

[Laura]

Do you have any idea how hard it is to wake up grouchy with a puppy on the bed?
Well, I guess it wouldn´t be so hard if you had a puppy who wasn´t as perfect as MY 
puppy.
She is five months old, and already completely and utterly trustworthy in the house. 
She goes to the door and whines to be let out. If you don´t hear her whine, she´ll bark 
once. Just once. That way you know she´s wanting to go out, and not just chasing the 
cat or playing with the other dogs.
Yes, she does puppy stuff. She´s chewed a spot on one of our end tables. I should 
have had chewies out. She´s nibbled on a couple of book corners. I shouldn´t have 
had the books on the floor. She´s nibbled on a shoe or two. Shoes should not have 
been in the kitchen. She´s sneaked back into the bedroom and come galloping down 
the hallway proudly bearing a pair of dirty underwear. I shouldn´t have left the gate 
open. She´s shaken a few socks into submission. Again, the gate should have been 
closed. She chases the cat... well, the cat deserves it, she usually starts it. ;o)
She is so smart and well trained that she is already allowed to sleep on the bed with 
us, and has been for about three weeks. Never since our first Sheltie, Piper, have we 
allowed a puppy on the bed. The Papillons were not allowed to stay the night in our 
bedroom for about two years.
Not once since she´s been sleeping with us has she chewed anything up, if you don´t 
count the shredded tissues, which I don´t. I do keep a big chewie in the room as a 
night-time "pacifier". When she´s finished with it for the evening, she´ll bury it in the 
covers. She´s so cute when she uses her nose to scootch the covers over it! Not once 
has she made a mess on the floor. She sleeps right up against my legs, sometimes 
putting her head or a paw over my leg.
We´d had her a couple of months and I was kind of disappointed - she didn´t seem to 
be a snuggle puppy. Still a wonderful dog and all that, but I was really hoping for a 
dog who liked to be near me and be snuggled, and she wasn´t showing much sign of 
that. Then I started getting down on the floor with her, not just to play, but to watch 
tv or just watch the dogs playing. Once I did that, she started coming over with her 
chewie or toy, and snuggling up against my legs or tummy for a chew or a mild tug of 
war. I realized that she doesn´t like to be up in the air on a lap! She will sit in my lap 
while I´m in the computer chair... IF I have treats for her. Otherwise, she´d rather be 
on the ground. That makes sense when you look at how little she is, and how high up 
it is in my big tall chair. Since we´ve been snuggling on the floor and on the bed at 
night, she´s started following me from room to room. She was doing that before, but 
in more of a "where is my protector" mode, instead of "I want to be with Mom", if 
you know what I mean. Now she´ll disappear into the living room when I´m in the 
kitchen, but comes right back - with a toy for us to play with.
Sometimes in the mornings I wake up first and pat her. When I do, she stretches out 
full length and pats my hand with her front feet. Then she´ll crawl/wiggle her way up 
along my body to my face, and we have good morning scritchies and kisses.
If she wakes up first, she´ll tippy-toe up to my shoulder and pat me on the arm with 
her soft little feet until I wake up. Then we have the same stretching, wiggling, 
scritchies and kisses routine.
She makes it really difficult to wake up in a bad mood.

(if you'd like to see a picture of the Most Perfect Puppy in the World, there are 
several pictures - to be truthful, there are dozens! - at 
http://wolfsinger.wordpress.com/)