Close Company

Rory is a snuggle bug. And a bit of a pest. And like most dogs, has an uncanny memory about 'good' things. Training a Ridgeback to do anything that doesn't involve food or creature comforts is a challenge. But let that same dog on the couch with you, just once, and you have a sofa-companion for life. Last night, we were all up in the loft and Rory had hogged the entire purple bed. Actually he was hogging the middle rectangle part, since the donut ring that the middle part sits in was eaten last week. I assume by a large, creepy, gooey alien. In any event, not wanting to see the rest of the bed doomed to the same fate, we brought it upstairs where it can only be used under supervision. So there's Rory, sprawled across the entire thing. And there's Seth, looking at me, actually drilling his eyes right through me hoping that I'll see there is a problem. Finally I can't handle the guilt any more and I tell Seth he needs to just kick Rory outta that bed. Which, surprisingly, he does. He lays down, shoves Rory off and then proceeds to claim the bed as his own. Rory immediately comes over to the couch to tell me all about the terrible fate that has just befallen him. I of course console him ("yeah, listen pal, if you hadn't eaten half the bed, there'd be room for the both of you"). He puts his head in my lap. I stroke those amazingly silky Ridgeback ears. He puts his front paws up on me and his head on my shoulder. Awe, this is nice, he's givin' me a hug. Meanwhile, Norm is at the other end of the couch engrossed in whatever was on TV and entirely unaware of my plight. Up comes one hind leg. Up comes the other. Now, I'm not going to sit here and tell you I was surprised. It's just that I'm a sucker for affection. Such a sucker in fact that I put up with about 10 minutes of a 66 pound dog laying across my body and essentially cutting off the circulation to my extremities. But I loved every minute of it. Then the commercial came on. Which was when Norm realized there was a rather large puppy on the couch with us. Off goes Rory. Tonight we came up and Rory bypassed the bed entirely (I swear the look on Seth's face said "huh?") and came straight for the couch. Same routine, but Norm was on to him this time. So before the back legs joined the rest of Rory on the couch, he was sent to find some space on the purple bed with Seth. And yah, I sent him. But first I made Norm admit that Rory is entirely adorable. ... Kathryn