When it comes to other dogs I need my space. To be fair I need my space with pretty much everyone except our Mistress and I can’t get close enough to her. I’d cuddle her all day if she’d let me. Shadow is more aloof than I am. She gives out a whole aura of needing space. Mostly she sends out a message of a meter wide exclusion zone that it is not permitted to enter – except by our Master or Mistress and then only on her terms and at times she allows. Ari needs to be close. He needs to be close to other dogs, he needs to be close to humans… all the time. He does not have an exclusion zone. Every so often his need for closeness can cause serious problems. If he tries cuddling up to me I tend to move, unless I’m feeling really sorry for him. Yesterday morning things went a bit wrong for him. He wanted to cuddle up to one of us; I’d said no, our Mistress was working, so he went to try to get into bed with his mother. Shadow was having a nap and was a little out of it. She didn’t realise he was just going to have a cuddle and flew at him in quite an aggressive manner. He was mortified. It isn’t nice when anyone launches a flying attack on you, but when it’s your mother and all you were trying to do was snuggle up to her it is particularly upsetting. When 
she realised her error she did apologise and gave his ears a special wash before moving to the settee so they could snuggle up and go back to sleep. It’s funny how such an undemonstrative dog as Shadow can have children that are so cuddly and loving. It’s times like this that I think he misses Megan the most.
Alfie’s Diary – the Book is available at Amazon UK –https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00583ZGSA
You can find short stories to read at www.alfiedog.com