Thursday, August 23, 2007

Miracle Cure

P1080581Pappy has undergone a transformation. My wife arrived the other day in the company of guests, a couple and their two children. Two children who loved the beach and stumbling around in the surf. And throwing the ball. Yes, throwing the ball. Since their arrival, Pappy has stopped picking around his food and gobbles it right down. And he clings less to me, and is enjoying everyone's company.

And one more thing-- we tried a little experiment. Pappy doesn't like the uncarpeted steps, so I carried his highness upstairs at bedtime and let him do something he's never done before. We let him sleep in our bed. My wife and I spent the night with no covers perched on the edges of the bed, so there wasn't a whole lot of sleeping going on. Pappy didn't take up that much space, but it's only a double bed and he's as hot as a blast furnace. The curious thing is that, this morning, Pappy was suddenly no longer afraid of the stairs. When I left him upstairs luxuriating on the comforter, he followed me downstairs after a few minutes. Then he headed back upstairs to idle away the early morn on his new bed. Seems I just had to have the right motivation to get him to test the stairs. But bad news Pappy, tonight it's back to the dog bed. Yep, we're putting the genie right back in that bottle.

Later update: When we went up to bed the next night, Pappy turned towards our bed and made ready to get right in. I directed him to his dog bed, and he sulkily went over to it. When we got back from brushing our teeth, he was happily wagging his tail from up on our bed. Unh unh, think again buster.

13 comments:

Gus said...

mmmm. Keep us posted on the progress on the bed. You do know that Teka and I share our King size bed with the parents, right? And when Travis (great dane/lab mix) visited, we let him share too. Dogs are pack animals, and you are our pack.

FleasGang said...

you're doomed.

Anonymous said...

Either Pappy has "dog memory" or he thinks you do.

I would always bet on the dog in the struggle for the bed. More persistence, no scruples.

Charlie said...

We're with Jan on this one -- that genie's not going back easily.

Anonymous said...

Hi, Pappy! Mom has been letting me sniff around on some dog blogs today, and we came across yours, and thought we'd say HI!
I don't have any stairs to deal with, but I just learned how to not be afraid of the tile floor. Mom put down a runner rug on the biggest scariest part, and I learned how to get through there. Now I am brave enough to walk down that hall even after Mom took away the carpet! It's amazing what we can do, isn't it?
Good luck with the bed. I haven't figured out how to get onto my parents bed yet. Maybe you could give me pointers? You don't look like a pointer, though...

3dogcache said...

Gus is right... Pappy's is now officially "one of the pack." Right up there next to the alphas of the pack. Enjoy.

3dogs

Joe Stains said...

I still don't think I get it, he sleeps on a dog bed not in your bed? This sounds pretty crazy to me!

Stella and Annie said...

What's a "dog" bed? Is that what you call that thing mom and us sleep in every night?!?!

Murphey said...

Yup, it's amazing what sleeping in the bed with our peeps can do, cause a transformation!

Murph

MJ's doghouse said...

mj used to love sleeping in our bed...now she is m ore choosy...she finds it very warm...so maybe pappy will get to warm also

Buddy Hosp said...

Hi there Pappy, my name is Buddy. I love you Blog. I always sleep on the bed. But I wouldn't mind sleeping in a big fluffy dog bed either. We don't have stairs but we visit friends that have them. At first I was afraid, (these stairs lead to a large deck and there are no risors on them), you know a dog just might slide through. Now I can just fly up and down.

Amici said...

I like to sleep in my humans bed too! I like to cuddle just before we go to sleep and then I jump down from the bed and sleep on the floor. Once the sun starts to rise I jump back up on the bed. I love to put my head on one of the human's feet. :)

Nat said...

Well, a bit sadder for the experience, Pappy has moved back to his dog bed. Every once in a while he looks forlornly up at the big bed, but he's resigned to his own bed.