Needing Some Love

When Ollie was a pup, we taught him early on not to jump up on us when sitting at the dinner table. The lesson went as so: Ollie would place his two front paws on our chair or legs; We would get super-duper excited that he was coming up to see us; Whoever's chair/legs Ollie happened to be on would then pick him up and cuddle him as if he was a puppy. You're probably wondering how could this have taught him anything. Well, if there is one activity he despises most, it's being picked up and held. To deter us from performing such a horrific act, Ollie will make himself rigid in order to add another 10 pounds to his already 45 pound frame. Light as a feather.

It's been well over a year since he's attempted to jump up and beg at the dining room table, until yesterday. I think he was feeling neglected with me being at rehearsal then out running, and Casey either sleeping or working on his thesis. Without warning he half-jumped onto Casey and begin licking his face as if it was better than any human food he could possibly receive. During this shower o' kisses, Ollie was looking around for something, eventually putting himself back onto the ground. During our confusion, Ollie looks in my direction and I see the lightbulb go off over his head. Apparently my chair was pushed back just far enough for him to make his way onto my lap. In the most lumbering, non-graceful manner that could only be pulled off by an animal who thinks he weighs less than half his weight, he stumbles upwards into my lap.

Several scratches later we have this:

Oh he was so busted! Ollie knew he wasn't allowed up here, yet we knew something wasn't quite right in Ollieland. Rather than reprimanding him, we cut him a bit of slack so we could take a few pictures. That was just icing on the cake for Ollie because our dog is a camera whore. Once he see's the silver contraption in front of our face, he knows all eyes are on him.

Needless to say we took him to the dog park shortly after this incident. We're not whipped. Honest.