Head butts, body slams, forehead mind melds and other displays of affection!

Beanie and I have always played rough. Yes, he's 127 lbs and could knock me over but the nice thing about a dog this big is I can see it coming and can prepare for it! I have plenty of time (if I'm watching him) to brace my legs, bend my knees and get my hip out. I've used this play as a reward in training as well as a way to expend some energy on bad weather days.

Today I took him for a walk in this wonderful 40 degree weather we are currently experiencing here in NH and he was full of it! I know he was happy because his tail was high and there was a bounce in his step! It's fun to watch him as we walk and as he takes in everything we pass through town. When he sees an approaching person his ears stand up and his chest puffs out a little, I imagine it as kind of an expectant, on guard type of posture. He loves people but also takes his guarding job seriously. When the person looks like it will completely ignore us his ears drop and he goes back to sniffing the dirt or whatever other undetectable to humans smells there are. When someone actually talks to him, usually they say, "My what a big dog you are" or my favorite "you're not a dog you're a horse", he wags his tail and gets all soft and sweet and eats up the attention.

As we came to the spot where he usually does his business he decided instead to start bouncing around in the snow and body slamming me! He wanted to play, I was laughing too hard and it was a little slippery to engage in a full throttle session but he was not discouraged, he then shoved his nose between my legs and began pushing me backwards, then bouncing back down into play bow and coming at me again. It must have been quite a sight if anyone had been watching. I'm sure it looked like I was being attacked, he really is pretty huge when he jumps up! We finished our walk with a lot more head butts into my hip for head rubs and bouncing around. We were both pretty winded by the end! Then comes the best part, he gets into the back of the car, I take off his gentle leader and we have our forehead mind meld. Our heads actually fit well together and we stay like that for a few moments while I whisper little words of love to my baby boy! Those are the ways he shows me he loves me, he thinks I'm fun enough to play with and he trusts me enough to be face to face, eye to eye. Those mind melds are magic. He makes me laugh and smile and my heart bursts with love for him. Right now he has his head resting on my arm as I try to type, he has the twinkle in his eye, I think he wants to go out and play some more, so i'm off to find his ball and play with my dog then after do some cuddling!

So how does your dog express his love for you?

My husband doing a version of the mind meld!