Spoons

Millie was an intense, insistent, expert cuddler.  I know some people who spent the night with her found it to be too much, since you really could not escape without throwing her out of the room.  But I always loved it, and it is one of the things I miss most viscerally.

Millie and I spooned most nights; it was our preferred cuddling format.  She would often doze on top of the covers at first while I laid on my back reading.  But when the lights went out and I laid on my side to sleep, she would come up to my head.  Since she had no snout, she couldn't effectively nuzzle her way under the covers, so I would lift them up and she would make her way down to the curve between my stomach and my legs.  She would usually sleep with her head on my elbow (my arm bent with my hand at my pillow), or with her head in the curve between my ribcage and my hips.

But that wasn't the full extent of spooning with Millie.  Sometimes in the night I would roll over to sleep on my other side, and Millie would then adjust her position.  She would move up and snuggle high on my back and then sleep with her head draped over my neck.  This was my favorite.  I loved to hear/feel her swallows (if you spend time with happy, relaxed dogs, you know about this kind of contented swallowing) followed by her soft snoring.  Sometimes her rough feet and toenails against my back were a bit scratchy, but the rest of her body was so soft and snuggly that, with just a few adjustments, I felt deeply loved and perfectly comfortable.