Today is Father’s Day, so I think I will talk about the relationship between Keith and Merlot.  I would say that Keith was the only male, human or dog, that Merlot really loved.  Keith was second only to me in all things but home protection.  In Merlot’s mind, the entire households safety fell on Keith’s shoulders first and if he didn’t think Keith was making the correct choice… his own.  Later in life, he tended to override both Keith and I when it came to the safety of the kids. 

 

Keith and Merlot were sleeping buddies.  They both LOVE to cuddle.  I don’t.  They worked out a system that Merlot was allowed to lay in the back of Keith’s legs at night.   When Keith wanted to change sides he would nudge Merlot and roll over.  Merlot would get up and move to the other side of Keith’s legs.  They could pull of this manuver without either of them really waking up.  I do not like anything touching me while I sleep at night, which neither Merlot or Keith could/can understand.  At least they had each other.  😉

 

Which brings me to a funny story about how Merlot ended up sleeping with us in the first place.  Prior to Merlot, no dogs had ever slept in our bed. I don’t like them on me OR in my face.  Merlot had a crate in our room, right next to the bed.  However, when he was 6 months old he started fighting going to bed.  He would go upstairs into our room, but then stand in the doorway and look between the crate and the bed, then making a mad dash for our bed.  Once up on the bed he would collapse and play dead dog.  Do you know how hard it is to drag a Standard Poodle off a bed when he is pushing down as hard as he can, gripping the bedding with his claws, and grinning at you to make you laugh, all at the same time?  At first we allowed him to watch some TV with us, then I would shuffle him off to crate, him playing dead until I dragged him totally off the bed.  Finally, after a month of fighting him, Keith said “Just let him sleep up here, if he gets off in the night, crate him”.  I think Merlot understood what Keith said because he NEVER moved off and slept on our bed for the rest of his life. We had a few rules about the bed.  No grooming, no grumping (growling at the other dogs who come up or over to say hi), and when the lights went off, move down into the sleeping area near the foot of the bed.  Above all do NOT cuddle with mom or you get kicked off!!  He was a quick study in anything he wanted.  It never took more than a single ‘no grooming’ to remind him of the rules. 

 

He did get kicked off the bed one time.  Keith was deployed to Kosovo when Merlot turned one year and was gone for 8 months.  When Keith returned home, Merlot had decided that half the bed was HIS and he wasn’t going to share with Daddy!  He growled at Keith which promtly landed him on the dog bed!  He had to sleep on the floor. Let’s just say, he never tried THAT again!  Sleeping on the floor is for dogs… it was humiliating.

 

We had a running joke that Merlot was always looking for new homes for all the males in the family, aside from Keith.  Both Aiden (our human son) and Flash (my small standard poodle boy) were tolerated at best.  That is until we would go out into public… then they here “HIS” family and he never showed anyone how he didn’t really ‘like’ them that much.  It was funny to see how much more Kenzie could do to Merlot and he would just lay there.  It was as if he gave her a free pass because she was a girl.  Or maybe it was because he knew she wouldn’t do anything stupid or violent like a boy.  She would never hit him up side the head with a toy.  Aiden… well I wouldn’t put anything past a boy!  I think this is something Merlot really understood.  Grumble a warning when they come near so they don’t do something stupid.  Seemed to work. 🙂  Aiden is excellent with dogs and I attribute that to the fact that Merlot would not put up with any rough behavior.  He never bit Aiden, but he did growl and snap at him a few times.

 

Keith keeps asking when I am going to allow Flash up on the bed.  I’m wondering if I do, will Merlot roll over in his grave??  Someone’s going to have to keep Keith warm!