We have a tall queen sized bed and if you've met Duke you know he is a big & tall dog. Dukie in no way can climb up onto our bed (he is afraid of stairs). But, what he does do is drop his 50 pound head (he weighs 83 pounds total, he just has a stubborn thick head) onto the edge of the mattress at 5:50am to wake me up. Thud, goes his head on the bed. And while his head presses down the sheets he breathes in through his nose making a huge racket- sniff!
Thud and sniff. That is his early morning routine when Eric travels and I am in charge of his early morning activities (outside and food). Thud and sniff. His nose is wet. It is cold. It sniffs me out under the blankets when I try to hide from him.
He does not bark. He just breathes. Sometimes he drools on my sheets. Attractive and pleasant this is not. My dog makes more laundry than the people in my house.
And then Duke stares at me. In the darkness of morning he thuds his head, sniffs for me, and stares at me.
If I play like I am asleep, he really knows that I am not. He can tell, you know. If I pretend to sleep and he knows I am awake, then he does this other thing. He windshield wipers the carpet with his long otter tail making this swishing sound. And he only swishes in this peculiar sort of rhythm. (That in itself tells you how often I have heard this sound if I can duplicate the rhythmic pattern?!)
Thud, sniff, stare, swish-swish, swish.
Thud, sniff, stare, swish-swish, swish.
Thud, sniff, stare, swish-swish, swish.
"Enough, already!" As I get up and take care of him.
In retrospect I could have used an alarm clock like him in college.
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