Before we left for Mass tonight, I carried little Schuster's cage into the living room. I had trouble opening the door to the cage and happened to notice that little Schuster was patiently standing behind me waiting for me to open it so that he could enter. This from the little dog who is patient about nothing. Bounce, bounce.
I felt guilty, yet the only reason we "crate" him is that he can't be trusted not to tear the house apart when we aren't here. He even tears things up when we are here if he knows we aren't looking. He got a magazine cover again last night. Or early this morning as he apparently got up this morning before I did. Lately, he seems to be able to distinguish between that text which will get him in serious trouble and the text that will bring forth only a mild reprimand. He's so cute!
Well, when we returned from Mass, he bounced in his cage till we got there to release him; once released he dashed out as usual, did a quick turn around to go back for his toy tiger, but then he did a new thing. He grabbed the toy tiger and brought it to me to play with him. Delighted I grabbed the tail and gave it a couple of tugs, got it away from him, tossed it across the room. He chased it and brought it back to me so we could do it again. Oh joy. Little Schuster is becoming a real pet in the best sense of the word.
When he is resting on top of the aptly named love seat, and I stop to stroke his soft back, he will even turn over now secure in the knowledge that a belly rub will be forth coming. Little Schuster!