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Kathy Bohannon Columnist

Published Sunday, December 18, 2011

Puppy hugs

Dyson the Terrible Puppy is a hugger.

We didn't know this until recently because he was saving the hugging for special moments, such as when he gets in big trouble. Being Terrible and getting into big trouble seem to go hand in hand, and Dyson has mastered both life skills.

"Look at this," my husband John said. From my viewpoint from my recliner to his, it looked like the pup was just lying on his chest. "He is pressing his head down and his little paws are on my neck," John explained.

I considered that to be an attack position and warned him of such.

"No, he's hugging me, really hugging." Dyson the Terrible cut his eyes over to me, never once moving his head, as if to say, "see? Dad loves me." I narrowed my eyes at him. Somehow he made his eyes big and moist and stared into my husband's eyes. He even blinked and made a real tear.

"Awww!" My husband said as he stroked Dyson's boney head. Smitten. That's it. John is smitten with the little stinker.

I figured Dyson the Terrible Puppy had done something Terrible that needed forgiving so I got up from my chair and went hunting. I didn't have to go far.

The screen door on the front porch was punched out just enough so a small dog could enter and exit at will. There was a trail of toilet paper in the hallway that led out to the back porch. What was once a fresh roll of Charmin's most expensive was chewed through along one end, rendering it useless unless there is a huge storm or social uprising in the streets.

And then there was the Terrible Trail of Blankets. Dyson the Terrible Puppy has a collection of blankets. They are the thin ones you get when you fly on airplanes. Since he travels frequently John brings them home and we keep them for bedding in Dyson's crate.

The pup can get up on the sofa and easily reach the stack of fresh blankets, so they become implements for tug-of-war games with Hoover, one our other Boston Terriers. When he tires of playing with Hoover, he grabs a corner of one and runs through the house like Superdog. He drags them from here to there, flying through the rooms in the house until he snags something and gets whipped back into a piece of furniture.

It is most entertaining.

While he was hugging on Ninja Man I was busy collecting about a dozen such blankets from various rooms of the house. There was even a blanket trail leading down the hallway. I have no idea what that game was but apparently the object was to drag one a few feet, drop it and go get another.

Sometimes if there is no daddy to hug on and Hoover doesn't want to play, Dyson will grab a bone, cover it with a blanket and then chew through the blanket to find his bone. We don't know why he does this but we are thankful he doesn't chew our clothes and shoes.

I recently had a group of women over for an evening of card making and scrapbooking. Dyson was on the back porch with the other dogs. He wasn't pleased with that and spent most of the evening with his head stuck between the translucent flap on the doggie door and the glass pane of the back door. My guests giggled because not only did he have to smash his head sideways so that he could see us with one eye, his long nose became distorted in the three inch space, making his black nose curl up as it stuck on the glass. His teeth stuck out and the one eye we could see rolled back and forth as he continuously tried to figure out how to get through that door.

I thought of that night as I folded his blankets. When I went back to the living room he was still lying on my husband's chest. He perked up when I walked in with an armload of blankets. As quickly as I put them in a stack, he jumped from John's chair to the sofa and began shopping for just the right tug toy.

I had to smile. He may be Terrible but we love him. Besides, he's a ton more fun to watch than cable TV.

•••

(Kathy Bohannon is a Georgia Press Association award winner and regular contributor to the Newnan Times-Herald. Kathy can be reached at kathybohan@yahoo.com )

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