(I’ve posted before about Riggins successful attempts to sneak into my bed.  To catch up you can read this original post – https://wendyandriggins.wordpress.com/2010/07/30/just-call-him-mr-sneaky/). 

It’s commonly known that a dog will try to make his/her human feel better and will want to be next to him/her during unhappiness and sickness.  A quick double click-through Yahoo! News will uncover a handful of stories of a dog refusing to leave the bed/grave/home of a sick master.  Sniff.  How much do you love dogs?  With all your heart?  I thought so.

As I’ve mentioned before 2012 was a tough year for me and therefore murder on Riggins sleeping behavior.  First of all, I found myself stuck in a horrible depression (https://wendyandriggins.wordpress.com/2013/01/17/the-best-medicine/) and Riggins felt like he needed to comfort me whenever possible.  Then I managed to give myself a concussion, and Riggins and I spent our day and nights laying together in my bed listening to podcasts (The way to get over a concussion is do nothing.  No TV, no reading, no working, no computer.  Can you imagine the boredom?  Good thing my brain wasn’t working right and I had Riggins as a friend willing to take a life time-out with me!  The only thing you are supposed to do is look for signs of a stroke.  Since Riggins isn’t the best companion for this job every once in a while I’d smile and touch my face to make sure both sides of my mouth were curved up).  During 2012 I had back to back mammograms that showed a mass so had to get a biopsy.  A boob with a hole in it added to that scariness as we waited for the biopsy results.  During this time I slept in a sports bra, for support, and Riggins HAD to lay up against me so I could feel his fur on my back, which both of us found comforting.  At the end of last year/beginning of 2013 I managed to almost poison myself.  Not on purpose.  Turns out if your neck gets swollen and it’s hard to move, you have trouble breathing, get a rash all over your body, and every part of you aches it is because you are allergic to the antibiotic you are taking.  Due to the holidays I didn’t get to the doctor to figure this out until I only had one pill left.  Oops.  Not only was I really sick I was very scared.  Riggins cuddled closer.  Finally, Riggins spent 1/2 of 2012 with his grandparents while I traveled.  Just like any good grandchild he knows how to work it and managed to find himself sleeping face to face with my dad in the master bedroom as my mom was kicked out and forced to find slumber in the guest bedroom. 

Riggins had a lot to deal with!  His master was a mental and physical basket case and he had become even more spoiled!  This had led him to be both super-duper needy and super-duper supportive.

Now as things slowly get back to normal he will fall asleep in whatever room I’m in.  While I was working that was the bed in the office.  Now it’s the living room sofa.  I go to bed, read, and have a few hours to myself before there is a dog nose in my face.  Wanting him, to be, and being used to him being, my emotional rock (and be a source of warmth — it’s been a cold winter) I’ll flip over to the other side of the bed and let him up.  He demands that the covers be pulled back before he gets into bed.  He takes his job as a security blanket very seriously and has upped his game during the year of trauma.  Now he HAS to be touching me.  His circle circle flop requires him to flop on top of me to make sure he is as close as possible.  More than once he has caught me off guard and I’m awoken by a giant weight being dropped on me taking away my breath for a moment.  Sometimes he decides that he needs to use the area between my hip bone and stomach as a pillow.  I do not see how this is a comfortable spot at all but he is happy with it.

There use to be a really easy way to get him off the bed if you didn’t want him on it.  All you had to do was tackle him with an all encompassing hug.  He could lay on  you but you weren’t allowed to smother him.  It would lead to him huffing off and back to one of his original beds in another room.  Not anymore!  In fact he seems to want to be full body hugged.  No matter how much you drap on him he just soaks it up and wants more. 

I realize to get a good nights sleep you should keep all distractions away from your bedroom and bed.  This includes animals.  Still I’ve been so happy to have Riggin’s comfort and support this past year I can’t find it in myself to make him get down and out.  Nor do I want to!  I guess we are both spoiled.