Should I take it as a compliment that Zeeke brings his toys and bones over to me? The other day he kept shoving a bone on my lap - he wanted me to hold it for him while he chewed on it. Apparently he couldn’t get the right angle, alone. Currently he is chewing on a bone beside me on the bed. I gotta say, he’s gotten 10 times better about bones than he used to be. I touch his bones all the time, and his mouth while he has one, without worrying overmuch about getting snapped at. Obviously if I did something aggressive I think he’d react badly, but just me moving the bone, or petting him, or whatever that usually happens, he’s fine with. I think mainly because at this point the bone has lost a lot of its value, since we always have several of them laying around.

When I take naps I wake up frequently to find Zeeke asleep with his chin resting on my hip. It’s really quite sweet. He rouses and groans and shoves his head into my stomach. He’s not half as cuddly as the little princess, but he surely appreciates attention and petting.

I did a mini experiment this morning while Den was asleep. Both dogs were in the office with me and I gave Zeeke a bunch of attention, petting him and kissing his head and telling him what a good boy he was. Zoe tried walking up to me once, which I ignored, then she sat down on the dog bed. After a minute or two I called her up to give her attention. Zeeke got grumpy and pinned her down roughly, I corrected him and called her again. Then I gave her all the attention, called her a good girl, etc, and Zeeke wandered off. I was just saying on a forum how the two of them are pushy, jealous attention hogs. Apparently not all the time. They can get a little pushy around me sometimes, but I think mainly their bad behavior comes out around Den. I’ll have to try the experiment again another day under different circumstances and see.

Zoe just grabbed a chew-toy and jumped up on the bed beside Zeeke - literally, against his back - and the two of them are happily chewing while I type. Zeeke is stretching out on his side while he chews. He’s very laid back and relaxed. I think he’s enjoying this. LOL