I don’t pet Luke if he nudges me. I am careful to pet him when he’s being polite instead of pushy. Sometimes when he mugs me for massages, I turn my head away, careful to keep my nose up like a valley girl so that I look dismissive rather than coy. When I really want to pet him but he’s being a pest, I ask him to do something, like “sit” or “bow,” so that I can pet him as a reinforcement for good behavior rather than bad.
