New Home - Day Eleven

My name is Archie and I am a sinner.

I think I'm settling in quite nicely to this new life with Nippy Wee Wifie.

There's routine, but plenty of excitement. There's comfort and warmth, but I get to be a wet and dirty dog when we are out on our walks. There is discipline - lots and lots of dicipline, but I get loads of praise when I get something right. There are boundaries, lots and lots of boundaries, but I get to relax in the knowlege that I don't have to be in charge..

And there's something new in my life. Something that was alien to me before, something I found distasteful, hateful, restrictive. Something that I actively avoided and tried to wriggle away from.
And now I quite like it.
It's called cuddles.

I don't quite know how or when it happened but I've changed in the last couple of weeks. There was a time when being picked up or held close would make me tense up and give a piercing, threatening stare. I hated the restriction, avoided it, made it clear that tough terriers are a force to be reckoned with and should NOT be messed with.

Nippy Wee Wifie has totally ignored my aversion to displays of affection. She reckons that to be a well adjusted dog I have to suffer being handled, picked up, held, turned upside down and whatever other humiliations she can think of.

At first I put up with it all, fearful to be honest, desperate to escape her attentions. Slowly slowly I came to tolerate it, realised that with acceptance comes comfort, ear scratches, tummy rubs - and loads and loads of praise.

Tonight marked a milestone for both of us.

I'm not allowed on the sofa or the bed. In previous homes I was a holy terror if I got up onto human furniture. That was the main reason why I was returned to the dog home time and time again. If I got up onto the furniture I would bite any human that tried to get near me.

Nippy Wee Wifie made it clear from the outset that furniture was off limits.
Oh yes, I tried. In the first couple of days in my new home I'd jump up and claim my place but NWW wasn't having any of it.
All she ever did was show me the pointy finger and say "OFF". That was enough for me. I never tried to challenge her. Somehow I knew that she wouldn't tolerate any of the agression that I had shown to my other owners.

After day three with her I totally forgot about trying to assert my "dominance" by guarding the furniture. I had my own bed, my crate and a comfy spot by the fire. I knew the score.

Tonight NWW was lying comfortably watching the television. I was lying down on the floor to be beside her. She looked down at me and then, miracle of miracles, she invited me up beside her.

I jumped up and settled down, curling myself up as small as possible, snuggled beside her tummy, trying to be invisible. She curled around me, arm over me - then fell asleep. I lay there, hardly daring to breathe. It was GREAT..

The magic ended when she awakened. We peered at each other, bleary eyed and sleepy.
In the past I would have growled at being disturbed. Instead I lay there and waited instructions.

And intruction came.....
Right, OFF.

I jumped down in a flash, all tail wagging and happy.
Then it was biscuits in the crate, business as usuall.

Somehow I don't think she's caved totally but she obviously trusts me a lot more.
It might even happen again.

I hope I don't blow it. This cuddling caper is seriously nice.

The picture - well, it's just a snap out of the car window as NWW was driving away from the stables. It was windy, dark and seriously spooky. The horses had refused to be caught in the field and NWW was forced to wade in and fetch them. She ended up plastered in mud and not at all pleased. She was totally boggin' when she got home - and she has the cheeck to rub ME down with a damp towel.