It is hard to believe it has already been three years. Rufus is doing wonderful and is the center of attention and the family. As soon as any family member walks in the house, we all walk straight to Rufus. He loves to relax in a chair by the front window. He also likes to keep an eye on the neighborhood and let us know if any other dogs walk near the house. Rufus loves to cuddle, he is very affectionate. He loves to sit with family and friends. if you ignore him he lets you know by gently whining and when that doesn't work he nudges your hand with his snout to get you to pet him.
Rufus is the most communicative dog I have ever seen. If he wants to go out he whines and runs to the door. If he wants water he puts his paw in his water bowl and makes a whiny "hmmmm" sound. If he wants a cookie he whines "hmmmm" and stares at the dog cookie cabinet. and when he wants a rawhide he does the "hmmmm" and stares at the cabinet where we keep his rawhides.
One day Rufus wanted extra food. He put his foot in his food dish and whined "hmmmm". We purposely ignored him to see what he would do. He continued to whine and started sliding his food dish all over the kitchen. it was very cute and we were all laughing. Finally when he had enough of our laughing, he slid his dish to the top of the stairs and kicked it down the stairs. When the food dish hit the bottom of the stairs he stared at my daughter and went "Hmmmmm".
We are all very happy and very lucky to have Rufus in our lives.