a softer gentler Bugs

Bugsy is a wide-open sort of guy.
He is a big baby and a very gentle guy but his energy and power usually live up to the bull in a china shop cliche.
He's on or asleep and has never really shown much consideration of injuries or illness............his or yours.
I always hear people say how their dog is so attentive when they are sick or disabled and I kind of chuckle and think not my Bugs. He drops his toys on me, drags me limping down the street with a face that says, "could you pick up the pace? gimp!"

But the last few days he's been super attentive to me. I've got a bad cold which has hit at peak allergy/asthma time so my chest is laboring to breathe.
He has been by my side.
I've been napping on and off for two days and each time I awake my boy is at my bedside. Sometimes asleep sometimes just staring at me.
In addition he has been bringing me his half chewed rawhide or antler and leaving it next to me. I'm not sure what that means but it seems awfully cute.
Not great to step on but it seems interesting and kind that he puts it next to me and wanders off. If I move he will collect it and place it next to me in my new place.
He's been watching me as if he is waiting for something to occur - this is a bit creepy because I can't help but wonder if he thinks I'm going to drop dead - I certainly feel like I could!
His body language is soft, very, very soft. His eyes are soft. I've never seen them look so kind.
He has collected me and shepherded me to DH at meal times, tail wagging as if to say, "here she is Dad, I've got her"
I don't know it is melting my heart - no doubt I am more emotional because I feel so weak but he amazes me.
Constantly
For so many reasons

Today I finished a great book "The Tattered Autumn Sky" by Tom Davis.
I finished the passage below and looked up to see Bugsy's powerful yet soft amber eyes staring straight into mine............

"But even if she did nothing else, there would be the way she looks at me. Emmy has always been one of those dogs that meets your gaze, and when we stare into each other's eyes there is nothing more that either of us needs to know" (p244)