Sunday, February 24, 2013

Sunday's Gratitude: Snuggle-Bug

Every Sunday I like to post something about which I'm grateful. Today I am feeling pretty happy that Wiley is a snuggle-bug.  He likes to cuddle, and he doesn't let his size or the size of the furniture stop that in any way.



When I was growing up my family had female dogs, and they were always unbelievably affectionate. My husband had Mac, who when we met was about 5 years old, and he was about as male as dogs can get.  He would give a few kisses to a privileged set of people, mostly my husband and me. He tolerated a few hugs each day from me, and as he got old he would occasionally lie next to me on the sofa. I loved Mac as much as I loved all my dogs, but he was not snuggley. A humper, yes, a cuddler, no.  I'm sure there's a joke to be made there about the typical male but I'm going to take the high road.  

Wiley was over-the-top cuddley from the moment we brought him home. This is one of the earliest pictures I have of him, taken within the first day or two.


 He shoves his way into bed, he sits anywhere and everywhere he can try to fit, and he uses every tool he has to soften us, most notably the sad eyes and the head nudge. Boy am I a sucker for the head nudge.  Here he is sitting on my lap on the recliner, leaning across my laptop. I was trying to get a good picture with the laptop camera but this is all my little T-Rex arms could manage.


The other day I lay down on the pullout sofa, using a small couch pillow for my head. Wiley immediately jumped up and tried to figure out how to share the pillow. Below he is casually leaning on it as though there is plenty of room for both of us.


Next he snuggled his face right next to mine so we were cheek to cheek. I couldn't get a good picture because he was lying on my arm.  This is the best I could do.



He then maneuvered until he could get one paw over my shoulder, pictured below.


 

Note the tennis ball he had to bring with him as well.  Finally he had to get his outside paw around me, which involved a lot of stretching and groaning, until he settled on this:


Then he fell deeply and soundly asleep, probably the happiest dog in the world to be snuggling with me AND the tennis ball.




The other night my husband came to bed and found this:

We were both asleep and he turned the light on to take our picture.  It didn't seem to phase Wiley in the slightest but I could have done without it.



I am very grateful that Wiley likes to be so close to us. He snuggles with our visitors too. I'm not sure how they feel about it but I don't really care either. :-) What Wiley gets out of the closeness I may never know, but I feel calm and relaxed and loved, and who doesn't want to feel that way? 

 You know what? I'm going to go out on a limb here and say Wiley probably gets the same thing I do out of it. Doesn't he look calm, relaxed, and loved?



 Ok, readers, I'm off to snuggle. Don't forget your homework: pictures of your pets sleeping. I've already gotten some great ones-I might even have to make this photo share into two different posts. I hope so! I love when I get so many pictures to share. Remember this is for pictures of any of your pets, regardless of species or rescue-status. If you do have a rescue story to share, you are always welcome to do so too!


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