Parker Makes it onto the Bed!

Several years ago, Tilly’s arthritis prevented her from making it onto the bed. She would try and try and cry and cry when she couldn’t do it. In order to help her up, Mike getting tired of getting out of bed to lift her up, we bought a couple of ottomans to put at the foot of the bed to give her a boost. That worked for a while, but this winter her nights curled around our feet were few and far between. She usually sleeps on an old down comforter on the floor of our bedroom on those nights when she even bothers to join us instead of sleeping in her bed in the den. But the ottoman’s remain there (they’re good hiding places for Christmas presents that accumulate during the year).

As for Parker, although he has demonstrated that he can leap small buildings in a single bound, he’s never figured out how to get onto the bed. A few weeks ago he finally got one hind leg onto an ottoman, but couldn’t figure out how to use them as stepping stones. This is the same dog who can leap five steps at a time onto the deck from the yard with plenty of clearance. But, in the mornings, when I’m trying to sleep in, he will get at most his front paws onto the bed by my head and whine.

I’ve been doing physical therapy every morning for a coupla months now which include exercises with me lying on the bed. Since only one arm is in motion during most of my exercises, Parker obviously thinks it’s a waste of a good petting arm not to employ that other arm, so he usually positions himself to make that easier for me. But when I’m on the bed, he just gets his two front paws on the bed, one hind foot on the ottoman and tries to figure out how to get to me.

This morning he finally figured it out and I found a very excited dog bouncing on the bed next to me as I tried to exercise. Laughter may be good medicine but it doesn’t do much for physical therapy. Not that I care.

Once those exercises were over and I got off the bed I got some more good laughs in as he tried to figure out how to get down, which he eventually did. While I continued with several exercises using both arms (nothing left over to pet with), he got up and down from the bed several times, as if cementing the process into his brain.

Looks like those morning lie ins may be a thing of the past.