Patience

Let me tell you something about this little girl...

Not only is she cute, oh god help me is she cute, she's also incredibly patient.  Her patience positively astounds me.  Quite frankly, I don't quite know how she pulls it off.

She never tries to run me over to get out the door of the house, like SOME dogs I know.  She waits patiently for food, for toys, or for treats.  Sometimes she wants something so bad I can actually see her inner struggle - but she waits it out with not much more than an 'alien cry' and a full body wag.  (you can't truly understand the full effect of the alien cry unless you know my little girl well, but it's quite endearing, if you ask me) 

There's another kind of patience Miss Lilly has.  Patience that I imagine she shares only with saints.  Patience that sometimes makes me love her so much it hurts.

You see, we all live with this guy.

He's sweet enough, but let's face it - he can be a serious pain in the ass.  When he likes you, he REALLY likes you, and he wants to make sure you know it.  He's not shy about expressing his love to any and every random passer-by, even if it means climbing on their head and chewing on their hair.  He's quite the feline creature.

Unfortunately for Lilly, he really loves her a lot.  This could partly be a result of Bailey making a clear statement to him on more than one occasion that his love is NOT welcomed by dogs in this house of the German Shepherd persuasion.

We all need a warm cuddly friend some nights, and Lilly is his.  Poor, sweet, patient Lilly.   

This is what I regularly see when I head to bed...

You see, Leo doesn't really believe in sleeping NEXT to Lilly - he finds it far more enjoyable to sleep ON her.  He will climb on and over her at will, poking, prodding, and licking as he goes.  If his annoyance gets to be too much for her, she quietly gets up and moves to a different spot on the bed.  Sadly, this creature cannot be so easily deterred.

I admire her patience, but often I think she's getting an unfair shake of the stick.  Her sweetness is being taken advantage of.  And we just can't have my best good girl being taken advantage of.  Sometimes the irritating creature must be removed from the bed.  Sometimes he must be contained under the blankets behind my knees.  Fortunately, this often pacifies him so Little Miss can get her beauty rest.

Frankly, I just don't know how he doesn't drive her to the brink of insanity.

Then again, during the day, she finds great joy in pinning him to the ground and chewing on his head for entertainment.  Perhaps it's a fair trade-off after all.

Love ya like a little Leo,

Lioness