We are working with our little headed demon to get her social behaviour more acceptable – she’s just so darned excitable!

One thing we have always said, we did not want a dog who sleeps in bed with us. So far, both dogs we have had, came to us having slept in bed with their people before we got them. And with both, crate training in an apartment building can only reasonably happen during daytime hours, not at night when everyone can hear the howling.

But with Tom working at night in his “office” and me up by 7 a.m. to get started on my days, we are working out the system. We had it going for a while, then over the holidays somehow Sprocket managed to squirm her way under the blankets and the bad habit of letting her come to bed with me began. But it also meant I did not sleep through the night as she was hot, then she would fuss, then I would fuss, then Tom would come to bed, or not and the entire month was a mess.

We were also both people sick, so sleeping patterns were disrupted across all boundaries, so finally this week, with relative health settling into T2, I started to get to go to bed without a furry demon to accompany me.

First two nights went so well, she did not even want to get up with me at 7 a.m. for her morning walk. So I would go out for my own walk, and let her out when I got home. Last night, she slept until 4 am, then decided to come to our door and try to push her way in. I awoke, as I don’t need to pick up any gifts, thanks, and asked, ” You want to go out? ”

She said, “No, just coming to bed.”

I said, ” You are bugging me, you must want to go out.”

As she skittered back to her own bed, ” No, no, I’m fine.”

I said , “Okay, I’m going to bed now.” Closing the door gently, I waited.

And back she bounded to our door and started pushing. And i came out, walked past her and went about my own 4 a.m., might as well take care of business myself type stuff, while I’m up.

She followed me about as best she could, then i asked again, “You wanna go out?’

” Nope”

“Really?”

“Just wanna come to bed with you”

Silence.

“Let’s go out” I say, and grapple her into her harness. Anyone who has met her understands her wiggliness requires the occasional grappling until we all understand each other.

4:30 a.m. out for a ‘Quick P’ and back in for a Kong full of doggy granola and liver treats on her bed.

And then I was able to head back to bed myself for a remaining few hours of ZZZs before I had to get up for my own day.

Hoping tonight is a solid night’s sleep for her and me, but really, it’s a good start!

And “Dad is still in there- I could be cuddled in with him…right?”