I suppose every dog owner thinks this, but I think that I live with the nicest dogs in the world. I'll give you an example of what leads me to think this. When our dogs are asleep, obviously we try to avoid disturbing them, but sometimes it can't be avoided, and sometimes it happens by accident.
The other night I was busy sorting out my clean dry laundry, and putting it away. I was walking into the bedroom with my arms full of "smalls". So I was trotting along, my mind full of thoughts like, "Whose underpants are these? Are these my socks, or Jenny's? And why do I always end up with an odd number of socks? Does the washing machine eat them? Is it an undiscovered physical law of the universe?" and so on. As you can see, I wasn't thinking about where I was walking.
And so, as I put my foot forward towards the chest of drawers I was heading for, it came into contact with Star's head. It was a slow, fairly gentle impact, (that's how it felt to my foot anyway), but she was spark out on her bed, so it must have come as a shock. Did she growl a warning? Did she sink her teeth into my foot? Did she slink away offended? No. She rolled over in surprise, looking up at me in confusion. I was saying, "Oh Star, I'm sorry, I didn't see you there. Sorry!" But I couldn't fuss her as my hands were still full of laundry.
She gazed at me for a second or two, then got off the bed, and started doing a stretch/playbow while wagging her tail. She looked perfectly pleasant, and obviously wasn't holding a grudge about the fact that I had actually just kicked her in the head, albeit not very hard. I pushed the underwear into the drawers (who knows who got who's socks?) and petted Star to try to show I hadn't meant any harm. I do wish dogs could understand the concept of "sorry".
There are many emotions I think dogs understand - love, anger, hunger, possession, and many more, but they don't get sorry. For all the times I've accidentally inflicted some small hurt on them, I wish I could convey to them that it was not deliberate. But I have to make do with just showing them that I am still friendly, without being able to let them know I didn't actually intend to step on their foot with mine, or clip a lead to their fur, or catch them as I sing the tennis ball launcher. For their part they don't bear malice, and I have to assume the incident is forgotten.
Neither of our dogs object when being woken. They both surface with an "Er, what?" kind of expression, pull themselves together really fast, and within seconds are ready to get on with life. This is true even when they have been asleep on the floor, and a foot has inadvertently landed on part of them, as it's owner failed to notice they were there, when they would be quite within their rights to protest. By the way , don't get the impression our dogs are constantly disturbed and trodden on; I am only talking about the odd occasion!
Anyway, I think if you can be nice on being woken up (which is more than I can manage most mornings) then you must be thoroughly nice, and I surmise that my dogs are the nicest dogs in the world. The photo of them is at a local beauty spot, where - nice though they are - they refused to pose nicely. Oh well you can't win 'em all.
Take care,
Julie x