So, a queen bed is pretty darn big. Two adult humans can fit comfortably. Picture an adorable medium sized dog all curled up at their feet. What a beautiful image. Now look at this photo. This is Louie. I said, 'Ah, Sunday. What a nice relaxing rainy day. I think I'll lay down on the bed with our little laptop table and write for a bit. I walk into my room after starting the crock pot and washing up. I turn on the light and there it is, giant Louie. He finds a way to get comfortable and make it impossible for any other person to lay down on the bed in any kind of normal fashion. The only way it will work is if you don't mind lying right on top of Louie. One thing I do know is he sure wouldn't mind.
So, I still want to write.
How can this work? I need Louie for my inspiration, but I also need to get comfortable enough to type. Well, I'll just try to nudge him over and get comfy. Louie is a pretty heavy sleeper and I don't even think he'll wake up if I push him over.
He didn't move too far over at all.Louie stood up, turned around and plopped back down and passed out, instantly snoring. There was enough room for me, but not enough room for the little laptop table. What to do? Looks like I won't need that laptop table any more? Just looks like Blind Louie doesn't mind having the laptop sit on him. It's warm and he's a heavy sleeper. So here I am writing this on my dog. What a tolerant guy.
Louie didn't get like this on his own.
Louie and I practiced extreme tolerance when he was a puppy. I knew that people had really bad ideas of what a pit bull would be like and I wanted Louie to be able to break those stereotypes. When he was little, I would lay him on his back in my lap. The first time I did this he made awful noises like a squealing piglet! It was like I was murdering him. My gut reaction was to immediately release him but I didn't, I held on gently until he stopped squealing and squirming and then I told him he was such a good boy. I pet his little pig belly and let him lick my face.
With Louie still on his back I grabbed one of his paws and held it firmly in my hand without squeezing it. He squealed again and tried with all his tiny little might to free his leg. I waiting patiently for him to stop, when he did there was more good boys and kisses. This became a daily occurrence. It was good I started early because Louie was growing so fast! Soon he would be able to get away from me if he really wanted to, but with all of this practice that wouldn't be an issue.
Louie learned to trust me, to trust all people.
He also learned that if he relaxed and just went with the flow that life would be pleasurable and he would be rewarded. Little did I know that I was training a blind dog. This was so important! He needed to trust people and be tolerant of being touched when he wasn't expecting it. Because anytime you pet Blind Louie, he didn't see it coming! The more amazing lesson is that I needed to learn this too. Like will be pleasurable if you take the path of least resistance, try your best and wag your tail a lot.
The final outcome is a dog that you could use a forklift to move and it wouldn't even interrupt his nap.
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