"I want to be a small dog"

The first year and a half that we had Quinn, Riley was alpha. She always let Quinn know who the boss was (things have changed in that regard in the last year). Quinn was always good about it too. Because of the way she grew up, she always prefers little dogs. She is SO GOOD with them. It's awesome to watch. I am so proud of her when we are around puppies or small dogs because she is so gentle and just wants to surround herself with them. It explains why she loves Emmitt so much.

Anyway, from day one we started to see Quinn mimick things that Riley does. Riley likes to sit on the top of the couch. Quinn now makes Riley get up from those spots and tries to sit on top of it. It's hilarious. It ruins the couch cushions because she is so big, but man, it's really funny. She will even fall asleep up there.

She demands to go under the covers whenever we go to bed. Riley started the trend and Quinn kind of followed her under there and can't sleep any other way now.

Anytime Riley got a bed, Quinn would try to sleep in it. Case in point...the picture above. Now, this is actually Emmitt's bed, but it doesn't really matter to Quinn. A small bed is a small bed.

Now, I am totally going to call myself out. I know I am putting human emotion on her, I know she really isn't thinking "I want to be a small dog"...but it's one of those things that owners do and even though I am dog trainer, I am still an owner and like to pretend I know what my dog is thinking. My thinking Quinn wants to be small dog is harmless because it doesn't build any kind of unreasonable expectation. So, yeah, Quinn wants to be a small dog and I love her even more for it.

Tags: dog bed, Humanizing, couch, smalldogcomplex