Our Incredible Shrinking Dog

One of the funniest things about being a dog owner is how easy it is to mess with the dog’s mind. Our poor Oliver is convinced he’s shrinking. He used to sleep on our bed every night, and he could easily jump up on the bed with a running start. A few months ago, we bought a new mattress, and it is several inches thicker than our old one. This means the bed is a little higher than it used to be.

The first time Oliver tried to jump up on the new bed, I felt so bad for laughing at him, but it was just so funny when he confidently leapt up and was bounced right back down and he rolled backwards when he fell. Nothing but his pride was hurt. He looked at that bed with a confused expression on his face and then moped out to the living room. It was so sad. He has since figured out that he can get up on the bed, but it takes a few tries and some big leaps, so most nights he just doesn’t bother and has started sleeping on the couch.

Last night he tried again to jump up on our bed. He was repelled completely on the first attempt, and was about to slink out of the room when D patted the side of the mattress and said, “Come on, Buddy, you can do it.” Oh, that’s another thing, he probably doesn’t know if his name is Oliver or Buddy since Little Buddy became his nickname soon after we brought him home. He pretty much answers to both.

Anyway, Oliver sat by the bed and growled at it a little while after the first attempt last night, then he took a running leap and tried again. This time he got his front paws up there, but gravity won out and pulled his hind end back to the floor. He growled at the bed some more and at D, who was laughing at him by this time. Then he tried one more time, and got more of the front end on the bed and D helped him by pushing his back legs up the rest of the way. Oliver was quite offended by this and growled at D some more before curling up and going to sleep.

So, Oliver is convinced he’s shrinking because it used to be so easy to make that leap and now his people are laughing at him. He’s quite put out with us.

This is a picture of him this morning. Notice how he looks like he's sleeping and lazing around, but his ear is up so he can listen for interesting sounds, like food being put in his bowl or the back door opening. He actually lasted the whole night on the bed last night, and I had to make the bed around him this morning because Sir Oliver just wasn’t moving for me. I think he must have thought he’d earned the right to sleep in and stay there since it cost him so much pride to get there in the first place. Then again, he’s probably just comfortable. I don’t think he really thinks much further than, “Breathe in, breathe out, give me some food, I’m hungry, and so, which of you people is going to open the door and let me out so I can come back in and have a treat?” He has us trained well.