The Give and Take of 95lb Cuddling Chewie
Chewie is a loyal dog - a very loyal dog. He is loyal to Kristin, loyal to his stomach and loyal to his personal sense of comfort. Kristin thinks Chewie adores us....I think Chewie adores breakfast, marrow bones, and dinner - I think he adores retrieving his ball and has scientifically deduced which facial muscles to move to creat a face with a type of charm to make us think he adores us in order to get all of these things....Kristin insists that he loves us and he does not have to do half the things he does to be close to us. Ummm, yeah, I think WE adore Chewie.
People often tell me that Chewie is big dog - and I have to admit I don't see it - until I see him walking side by side with his Berner friend Emme and I realize he is every bit the size of this Swiss Mountain dog - how can it be? Here he is in the living room sitting next to Gromit on the couch side by side, tail to tail - he has a shorter tail, shorter legs, and a shorter snout - but he is more square and has bigger stronger muscles and he weighs more than Gromit - but stilll he is a smaller, more compact package of a dog. In class last week Annelise measured him, "look," she says, "see he is as big as the measuring pole goes" and will have to jump as high as Gromit - "GET OUT, " I think to myself the poor guy, - I just laughed. You see Chewie has what Kristin calls and 'economy of motion." He is very strong, and can do a lot of things, but he does not lift any foot unnecessarily - so pulling all four feet off the ground - well let's just say you better make it worth his while.
Chewie fits in things much eaiser than Gromit - he loves fitting into us. He will sometimes walk up to me sitting in the lazy boy, in the winter, fire roaring, movie started on the tv- he sits next to my chair, head resting all its weight on the arm of the chair and giving the most direct eye contact any dog has ever given me...."hup, Chewie," I say, as he leaps into my lap - and he lays down in my lap with a big old retriever sigh..you know the kind that every level headed hunting dog makes when they resort to being satisified with relaxing..alas...
Then there is the Chewie that lets you sit on the couch with him and leans into any touch - He is so okay with a great big bear hug and kiss while he sits next to you on the couch. He rolls over for a belly scratch if he is on the floor, when I sit in the bean bag chair he just stands over me and drools... chin on my knee.
There is one other side to the 95lbs that is pretty funny when I am sitting here writing about it, not so funny when it appears in real life. Chewie, in all his zen downard chi wisdom, has learned the advantage of gravity and 95lb passive resistance. He doesn't growl, he doesn't bark, he just lays down when he doesn't want to do something. Very effective I have to say. It is very hard to move him.
All in all I have to say that Chewie does most of the giving and not much of the taking with those doodle pounds.
People often tell me that Chewie is big dog - and I have to admit I don't see it - until I see him walking side by side with his Berner friend Emme and I realize he is every bit the size of this Swiss Mountain dog - how can it be? Here he is in the living room sitting next to Gromit on the couch side by side, tail to tail - he has a shorter tail, shorter legs, and a shorter snout - but he is more square and has bigger stronger muscles and he weighs more than Gromit - but stilll he is a smaller, more compact package of a dog. In class last week Annelise measured him, "look," she says, "see he is as big as the measuring pole goes" and will have to jump as high as Gromit - "GET OUT, " I think to myself the poor guy, - I just laughed. You see Chewie has what Kristin calls and 'economy of motion." He is very strong, and can do a lot of things, but he does not lift any foot unnecessarily - so pulling all four feet off the ground - well let's just say you better make it worth his while.
Chewie fits in things much eaiser than Gromit - he loves fitting into us. He will sometimes walk up to me sitting in the lazy boy, in the winter, fire roaring, movie started on the tv- he sits next to my chair, head resting all its weight on the arm of the chair and giving the most direct eye contact any dog has ever given me...."hup, Chewie," I say, as he leaps into my lap - and he lays down in my lap with a big old retriever sigh..you know the kind that every level headed hunting dog makes when they resort to being satisified with relaxing..alas...
Then there is the Chewie that lets you sit on the couch with him and leans into any touch - He is so okay with a great big bear hug and kiss while he sits next to you on the couch. He rolls over for a belly scratch if he is on the floor, when I sit in the bean bag chair he just stands over me and drools... chin on my knee.
There is one other side to the 95lbs that is pretty funny when I am sitting here writing about it, not so funny when it appears in real life. Chewie, in all his zen downard chi wisdom, has learned the advantage of gravity and 95lb passive resistance. He doesn't growl, he doesn't bark, he just lays down when he doesn't want to do something. Very effective I have to say. It is very hard to move him.
All in all I have to say that Chewie does most of the giving and not much of the taking with those doodle pounds.
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