I know that the boys love each other, there are times that they show that, but at times, especially since the snake bite, things can get tense, and sometimes there is even an explosion or two to deal with.

We’ve had to separate the two on occasion as Bodi uses his size and strength to take away Oliver’s speed.  Luckily most of it has just been posturing as it sounds much worse then it turns out to be in the end, but we still worry.

Ever since the Rattlesnake episode Bodi has been, how do you say, a little off.  He gets quite a bit more tense with Oliver, and us at times, he seems to be more desperate about food, he just seems a little different… like I said, a little off.

Oliver has had more moments then usual where Bodi’s hair goes up and the whites of the eyes start to show.  Oliver has taken to playing by himself more, going into other rooms to find the sunbeam when Bodi is near, actually coming upstairs to sleep in the spare bedroom while I’m working rather then stay down in the living room with Bodi – whereas he was always hyper playful with Bodi and would crawl up onto Bodi to crash out in the sunbeam before the incident.

I feel sorry for both of them at times, Bodi because obviously something is going on in his head, and Oliver, because he has had to change his style to keep out of Bodi’s line of fire when things happen. We work with them all the time, walk them together, they sleep with us in the same bed – but there usually seems to be a little coldness in the air that just pops up in an instant… weird.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not all Bodi, Oliver can still be a pain in the butt, stepping in front of Bodi to get love first, or to get out the door, or even food (which can really be dangerous since Bodi outweighs him by 15 lbs.), but Oliver has a tremendous amount of love inside the timid little needy Vizsla frame.

We still treat Bodi with the respect that the elder dog deserves, holding Oliver back at the door to let Bodi out first, giving Bodi his food first, always sharing the love between them, and will continue to do so, but I wish I had all the answers to this one, and could see what is going on inside those little red-heads.

IT’S ON – How could either one of us actually let dad sleep when we both want the prime real estate next to his head…

How could that ever happen!!!

Dad, trying to exert his leadership throws his hand up… Spinning through the hand, each dog tries to catapult the other off the bed… Fighting through, Bodi throws Oliver on his back, Dad tries to ignore the fast moving red blurs… The fighting (playfully) gets fierce and the sounds of nipping teeth and playful growls gets intense… Bodi, sensing an opening lunges in and nips Oliver on the ear, the fighting is intense… Realizing that the space is lost, and the bed is soft, Bodi starts to slip into sleep again, as Oliver turns his attention to the man under the covers…And through this all, who is filming???

Instead of breaking the fight up and letting the lump sleep??? ]]> http://www.thegooddogblog.com/2010/06/23/sleeping-with-the-enemy/feed/ 0 http://www.thegooddogblog.com/2009/10/22/setting-the-tone-for-the-weekend/ http://www.thegooddogblog.com/2009/10/22/setting-the-tone-for-the-weekend/#comments Thu, 22 Oct 2009 22:57:46 +0000 Jim http://www.thegooddogblog.com/?p=486 Just a quick post about the Bodester, a picture is worth a thousand words, so I’ve already written a lot with this pic.

Bodi hard at work proving once and for all that he can crash out just as fully as Tucker could, I’m in the chair editing a video for a client, while this bum-of-a-dog is crashed out, snoring, and doing those cute little Vizsla kicks while he chases Squirrels in his dreamy-dream land.

Just something to set the tone for the weekend!!!

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

It’s strange, but I think there are healing properties that you get when caught by the sunbeam – even if you are wide awake and excited, slip into a sunbeam and you are suddenly relaxing, feeling the warmth and healing, your cares and worries seem to slip further into the background… all for the little beam of light.

Tucker and Bodi both lived for that beam – they could be running across the bed, playing in the hallway, whatever – and the beam would just reach out and grab them, throw them to the floor and beat them into a beautifully comfortable submission. We always laughed at the vision of these big, beautiful boys, trying their hardest to keep their eyes open – their heads bobbing up and down as they try to fight it, but eventually giving in and letting the sunbeam drag them into a deep sleep.

Some of our favorite pictures of Tucker and Bodi have happened because of the sunbeam monster, shots of them sleeping, or very nearly sleeping, with the perfect light and shadow playing across their features, it brought out the majesty of these dogs, and their colors are warmer and more intense then ever.

Of course, these shots, being the last morning with Tucker, are even more beautiful then ever for Nancy and I. Luckily every day we are greeted by the vision of Bodi fighting the sunbeam monster – and losing – as I am writing this, I watched Bodi walking down the hallway and the sunbeam grabbed his butt and threw him to the floor… after a good walk in the hills with Nancy this morning – he really didn’t have a chance against the beam… ahhh, realistically, he never did, and never will.

Bodi, deep in thought

Well, it’s been 2 weeks and we think that the toughest part has started to pass for all of us… Although picking up Tucker’s ashes definitely brought back a lot of memories and a lot of tears for both of us. I’m sure by now Bodi is wondering what the heck happened to the energy that we used to have in the house, and whats with all the nose-blowing and salty faces.

We fell in love with Bodi on the day we met him, Tucker took a wee bit longer to find that love for his little brother, but grew to love him dearly in the 6 months they were together. Bodi, right from the start, has had a huge heart and has fit right into our little world, he has a great personality, great spirit, heart and soul, but we have noticed that over the last 2 weeks Bodi has changed quite dramatically, he has gotten a lot closer, and has been more in tune to us then ever before.

Bodi working at the office

Up until recently, we hadn’t taken Bodi into my office, except for just quick visits if Nancy would come by to get me to go with her and the boys for a walk.  Tucker spent many a day, and quite often, long into the night with me at the office, he had his own chair there, and as a matter of fact, many times we would have to pull up a chair for Tucker at meetings, otherwise he would walk around the meeting room nudging everyone, once he had his chair, he was content and would quickly doze off for the duration. For the last two weeks Bodi has spent quite a lot of time with Nancy and I at the office, and he has slipped right into the rhythm… greeting all he sees, and sleeping in Tucker’s chair just like it had always been there waiting for him.

The strangest thing is that he has started to do a lot of the things that Tucker did before he passed, things that Bodi never did until Tucker was gone, but things that were most definitely Tucker’s trademarks. As a matter of fact, the day that we lost Tucker, when we came home, Bodi did something that Tucker always did, and Bodi hadn’t ever done… When I knelt down to hug Bodi he curled up between my legs and leaned into me, exactly as he had seen Tucker do many times before.

Bodi warming himself in the clean dry clothes

Tucker also had a thing for clean, warm clothes. Nancy would bring them up from the dryer and pour them out over the bed, Tucker would always crawl into them, nuzzle his nose under the warm clothes, and let out a big sigh of contentment.  Up until this last couple of days, Bodi, thinking Tucker was nuts, would just look the other way and doze off.

As you can see, now Bodi has picked up on this little habit, and he is loving the warm, clean clothes.  He will get up from wherever he is laying, walk over and plop down on the clothes, letting them warm him all over, and just as Tucker did, he will let out that little perturbed grunt every time we make him move so we can fold the clothes, or, god forbid, we pull an article of clothing out from under him.

Bodi wishing he was the cream cheese

So, as you can see from the pictures (this one was taken this morning, with Bodi’s complete and unwavering attention being focused on Nancy as she sat the bagels down on the table outside New York Bagels – if you look closely you can see that the sunlight created a small halo over his head – just to try to fool everyone into thinking that he is a little angel), Bodi is coming into his own, finally being counted on as the number one dog in the house. His love is blossoming as he is receiving more and more love, and he is becoming even more a part of our family.

The walks are long, the dreams are large, the fun is grand, but the time is fleeting.  The Bodester is figuring his role out, Nancy and I are amazed at how great a companion he is becoming, how much we needed him, how much he needed us, how much we love him, and how grateful we are to be blessed with such loving and incredible friends, and such a great family.

Of course, when we got Bodi we made some solemn decisions about how he would be inserted into our lives so that we, and Tucker of course, wouldn’t have to be “inconvenienced” and so that he would be put back on the “straight and narrow” on his diet and training, etc…

• No human food – lasted about 2 days

• No getting on the furniture – lasted about 2 hours

• Only riding in the car in his crate – second trip he was flying solo

• No getting on the bed – lasted about 2 1/2 weeks

And the big one…

• No sleeping on the bed, he was going to sleep in his crate every night, this was so that Tucker could still have his one place that he could count on being his.

Bodi has always come on up and gotten into his crate, with a little coaxing. He would never refuse, but even though he follows us around everywhere that we go – normally – whenever we would shut things off and say that it was bedtime, he would casually climb up on the sofa and curl up into a ball, ignoring all of our calls and pretending to be asleep. We would have to come down and grab ahold of his collar to get him off of the sofa and headed up to the crate, whereas he would calmly climb on in and go to sleep.

Nancy and I had talked for days about when we might give him a chance to sleep on the bed for the night and had decided that last night we would give it a try and see how things went. Tucker still keeps Bodi at a slight bit of an “arms” length, so we were concerned about that. When we got ready for bed, Bodi did his usual and climbed up on the sofa to pretend he didn’t know we were going to bed. This time when I came down to get him he rolled over on his back and stuck his legs in the air so that it would be a little more difficult to take him to bed, damn kids nowadays, the things they learn from TV that makes it so difficult to control them. I flipped Bodi off of the sofa and sent him towards the bedroom (where his crate is) expecting to tell him to hop up on the bed. He slithered into the bedroom and sulking, he dropped into the crate to go to sleep, no telling him to get out and on the bed would move him, and not wanting to make this a “punishment” thing where I force him out, I left the crate door open and  just got ready for bed.

I pulled the covers back, sat down and as I went to lay back I felt something warm and furry where my pillow was supposed to be, Bodi, figuring things out, had jumped as fast and quiet as he could up onto the bed and was as happy as he could be. As I moved him and laid back, he was licking my face and neck (with his trademark nibbles) as hard and fast as he could. We already knew this about him from sleeping on the sofa, but we were still amazed at how quickly and completely Bodi sleeps, once he goes to sleep he pretty much is dead weight for the duration, so we had no problems with him sleeping on the bed, unless expecting him to move to make you more comfortable is considered a problem…

So, the morale of this long ass story… We have an extremely good, happy dog with whom we are gladly breaking all of our rules with, to the growth and benefit of all of us.

What can we say… As Bodi’s name says… God Bless The King, King Tucker and King Bodi that is.