One of the things that makes Lily special (other than being a winner in the ring), is that she smiles when she is happy, just like a person. In fact, she IS a person. Really. She has a lot of human ways - she puts her arms around you to hug you, she kisses you very sensually, with eyes closed, very gently, loving every moment of her time with my husband or I. She is a real "lady", polite and gentle, especially in the morning. She instinctively knows when you are waking up even if you don't move. She will quietly come out from under the covers and ever so gently creep up to my face and carefully lay her neck across mine, just holding this position, never stepping on you with her feet. She puts very little pressure on my neck, just enough to let me know that she knows I'm waking up. Then when she feels me reciprocate with a kiss, she gently kisses me back, again, with eyes closed, like she is in heaven.
Here is a photo of her sleeping hugging her mother Petra who is also comforted by her special touch. Here is one of her hugging Daddy. I have never known such a sensitive and expressive dog.
She especially likes to use her smile to "schmooze" us if she thinks we are upset over something bad that she did - which is rare! One of the only times she got in trouble was when she decided to tear up the arm of one of our upholstered living room chairs (see photo). I came in to find stuffing all over the floor (ok, so it happened twice). I looked at her and said in a stern voice "Liiiiiily, what did you doooooooo". She then proceeded to give me her most gigantic smile, reserved only for such occasions, her theory being that if she can do something that always makes up laugh, she can get us to lighten up and not scold her anymore
What a brainy woman. Of course it works.
Below are pictures of her 2 smiles; the one on the left is her standard, everyday smile which we see quite a lot - BUT it is still reserved only for family and close friends like her handlers Norm and Marilyn Randall and my mom when she visits. The smile in the right photo is the most rapturous, gigantic one she can manage! This one is much more rare to see, it's the schmoozing smile or one she uses when she is just in her very happiest mood. The one below is her as seen from the front. Her smile is very different - she uses the upper part of her muzzle, not just the corners of her mouth pulled back. Her daddy smiles too (though not nearly as much or as wide) and her grandma Aggie did it too, but only a few times and only when she was pregnant! I guess Lily got a double dose of the smiley gene. We hope it will continue on in future generations.
Looking At Daddy: Standard Smile
Gigantic Laughing Smile
Kiss me mommy, you KNOW you want to!!
And here's Lily smiling in slow-motion May 2010!
Back to Lily's Page Do you have a Boston that smiles like this? Send us some photos, we'd love to see them!
