Louie's Troubles with the Truck

Louie loves to ride in the car. LOVES.
I've always had a sedan since I adopted Louie. When he was small I would hold him on my lap. As he got bigger he moved to the passenger seat, and when he got huge, to the back seat he went. Louie loves to stick his nose out the window and sniff the whole wide world in. It sometimes gets a little noisy back there with all that sniffing.

When I met my husband Paul, Louie was almost entirely blind by then. Paul had a two door '90s Ford Ranger with two little jump seats in the back. I never actually thought it through until we were going to get into the truck for the first time together, Paul, Snorp, Louie and I. Louie had never been in a truck like this before.



Louie had been in a truck before.
My dad had an '02 Tundra with a full backseat and a rear door on one side. As far a Louie was concerned, this was just a much taller car that he needed to use the stairs to into. No big deal. He could still stretch out in the back seat or stick his nose out of the window crack. Louie loved riding in my dads truck. When he was really young, my dad left him in the truck and ran in somewhere for a bit. When he came back out his front passenger seat looked a lot different.

The seat had already split at the seam a little. My dad gave Louie a dog biscuit, it got stuck in the crack and then unattended, let the digging begin. It was a heated leather seat, did I mention that? It was the bells and whistles model. There were springs and wires and stuffing and leather sticking out everywhere. Louie didn't even look guilty. He was simply looking for his treat.



Paul's truck was a whole different story.
With a two door, you have to tilt the front seat forward and squeeze into the back. Louie didn't quite see it. Can you believe that?

He tried to jump into the front seat and just bumped in to the part that was tilted forward. Okay, so that isn't it. I kept reaching my hand over him into the back area and snapping my fingers. I said 'Come this way' and snapped again. Then I hit my hand on each side of the 'tunnel' he'd be going through. I tapped the back of the front seat, side of the truck and the floor. 'Careful' I said. I put my hand on his back. Louie jumped in.

Now, I would love to say that there it was just as graceful as I made it sound. Louie's big body had a hard time squeezing into the back. He kicked one of his back legs frantically for a second trying to get his footing and hop in. If you know Louie, you know that is not unusual. It takes him awhile to get on and off of things, for good reason of course. Sometimes, it's pretty fun to watch. Like I've said before 'blind dog's are sit down comedians.'


Snorp and Louie in the back of that two door Ford is another story.
They get in okay, but Louie always expands. There s no other way of describing it. It's like when you leave bread dough in a bowl to rise. If you stand there and stare at it, nothing. but if you forget about it and come back to it then all the previously negative space is now filled. That is Louie. Where does Snorp fit in? Let's just say he makes it work.

This picture, Louie resting his head on our arm rest.
I had to ask him to get up because he was lying down in the back and Snorp was standing in the only available space very uncomfortably. So Louie sighs, slowly stands up in the very middle of the back of the truck, sits and lays his head down and resumes sleeping. Standing up and sleeping. Snorp has the tiniest bit more space and the empty space on the other side of Louie? It's just that. It doesn't always make the best sense to onlookers, but it makes perfect sense to Louie.

Sometimes, Louie makes room for Snorp and then everybody's happy!