When the bed had legs, Sassy was having trouble jumping up on it. Some of that was faked, but the trouble was, I had to watch her half-jump and slide down again. I threatened her with the Tickle-Jump, and she snarled at me for putting my foot behind her and touching her to jump. She never bit but she could do a great imitation of an angry dog about to retaliate. It worked. I won.
Legs removed? No problem! Except she found the lower bed equally difficult. So I re-introduced the Tickle-Jump. She repeated her former gambit. She needed some love before jumping, so she sat down and looked at me with a smile. "You need some love?" She smiled angelically (or at least faked her innocence).
So now we have a routine, well established by Sassy for getting attention. "Tickle-Jump!" means she will sit facing the bed, her chest up against it, until I pet her all over her head and shoulders, and tell her how many people love her. She modestly gives me a couple of licks to say "Thank you."
Then I am expected to make sound effects, an engine revving up and getting louder as she makes her tremendous Evel Knievel run and hop onto the bed. If everything has gone well, she congratulates herself with eight loud barks in a row. "I did it!"
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| She would not sit next to Ronald by herself, so a customer took this shot of her, on the way to a MHS reunion. |
