A sleepover

 

A sleepover

We had a guest for a sleepover on Saturday. Arthur came to stay while Susannah and her friend, Jo, went to see another friend in the Cotswolds.

He was anxious when they left but settled quite quickly. We expected that he and his great friend, Gilbert, would play, but, though they greeted each other cordially, there were no high jinks. I suppose neither of them was in in the mood. Roxy just kept her head down, grateful for some peace and quiet, and to be fair, she and Gilbert had been out for a good long walk with Barry. They returned, wet, muddy, and tired, the dogs, that is!

Arthur was on high alert, ears pricking and head turning towards the front door every time he heard, ‘Motion detected at your drive.’ This happened quite frequently, as it was quite breezy, causing some branches to set off the alarm. (Clearly, it’s time to prune the shrubs again!)

We went out to do a little gentle gardening, the sitting down sort, where exercise is limited to twisting and turning (body) and pulling (weeds) Arthur came to help.

At bedtime, Arthur trotted upstairs and found a really comfortable spot on my side of the bed. He sleeps on Susannah’s bed when he’s at home, and he thought he’d do the same in our house. Deep down, he knew that was not going to happen. The practice with us is that he goes into the little crate in our room. This ensures that he relaxes and goes to sleep, rather than traipsing round the room all night, disturbing Gilbert and inciting him to mischief.

I reminded him of the routine. He looked at me and wriggled hard, his tail wagging itself into a blur. I left him and went to have a shower. I heard Barry talking to him and when I came back into the bedroom, Arthur was in his crate. What a good boy!

The next morning, he was delighted to be released from captivity and leapt onto the bed, to press tightly against me. Barry whistled up our dogs and cats and they all galloped off, eager for breakfast.

Arthur was encouraged to go with them, but he tucked closer to my side. He is not motivated by food. His joy and main ambition in life is to be in as close personal contact with a human being as possible, preferably with Susannah, but someone else will do in an emergency. I think he would have stayed there all day if I hadn’t moved, but eventually he followed me downstairs.

Our dogs looked on in disbelief, as I persuaded Arthur to eat. They would have helped willingly and need no encouragement whatsoever. He is very easily distracted when supposedly feeding, messing about, eating a mouthful or two, then looking around, before attempting more. It’s quite a novelty spending time with a dog like Arthur. Every dog we have had has shown a healthy (sometimes unhealthy!) interest in food. Even our cats have always been enthusiastic about eating.

There followed another hour or two of extreme attendance on the front door, and joy was unbounded when Susannah finally appeared, after many false starts.

All three dogs met in the forest for a walk after Susannah and Arthur had been for a run. It was noticeably quiet when they left and everyone snoozed, but it was a pleasure to have Arthur to stay.

Gilbert relaxes