Wilbur, Workin' His Way In

    This morning Wilbur yakked at the foot of our bed.  From the looks of it, he'd been eating grass.  Additionally, neither Simon nor I remembered to unlock the dog door, a fact that was brought home strongly by the distinctive bouquet of dog pee in the basement playroom.  I crawled around on all fours sniffing the carpet, trying to find the puddle.
    "I can't do this! We're taking him back!" I said to Simon on the phone at noon. "I need a clean house!"
    "Whatever you want to do," Simon said.
    I called back an hour later.
    "I don't want to take him back," I sighed.
    "Whatever you want to do," Simon said.
    I put Clara down for her nap.  She cried and yelled because she didn't want to nap. Wilbur came up the stairs and sat down on his haunches outside her door, a look of deep concern on his face.
    I laid down for a nap, too.  Wilbur has been sleeping next to my side of the bed since his third night here.  He likes to sleep on the velour body pillow I used while I was pregnant.  He was disgruntled with me this afternoon, however, because I'd sprayed 409 on his puke stain and he didn't like the smell.  He looked at me resentfully and made his way to the floor on Simon's side of the bed.  He dragged one of my dirty T-shirts from the base of the hamper to his new resting place, and put his snout on it.
    I felt much better after I woke up.  I put Clara in her stroller and we took Wilbur for a long walk.  The second half of our walk, he stopped intermittently and refused to budge.  He did the same thing on our walks last week, and I ended up carrying him six blocks (hope to heaven no one was watching out their front window).  Today I briefly considered slinging him over the top of the stroller, chubby front paws hanging off one end and chubby back paws hanging off the other.  I've learned, however, that the thing to do is give him thirty seconds or so to sniff the wind or listen to sounds and then gently tug his leash and say things like, "Oh, what a good boy!  You are such a good, smart boy! Yeeessss, such a good boy!"
     Tonight, he situated his considerable bulk in my lap, put his nose close to my mouth, and offered up his silky ears for a good scratch.