Our doggies

Yep, our dogs deserve some props so tonight's the night for them. As I was growing exponentially at the beginning of last year I convinced my husband the dogs had to get off the bed. Remember, the are part pug, which I now believe puggle stands for snuggle. And they snuggle with me. When they do snuggle with John he never gets a good night sleep. Really honey? You're preaching to the choir!

Anywho...we were successful. We trained Sophie to sleep in her crate and Oliver to sleep in her (Sophie's) dog bed. Of course, when you heard the doggie nails on the floor after switching the light out you'd have to say "Oliver, go back to bed!". Then you'd hear the doggie nails going back from whence they came. ;) I cannot explain the freedom I enjoyed! Freedom to move my legs! Freedom to fully stretch out! Did I mention they like to curl up about 1/3 of the way up my side, leaving me 2/3 the length of the bed on a good night? Needless to say, as much as I love my pups I LOVED not having them on the bed.

Then I went to Anchorage for bed rest. Did I mention the dogs were trained to sleep on the bed b/c my hubby is a sucker? Yep! As a puppy Oliver was crate trained at night until John started letting him sleep on the bed "just for tonight". Four years later....
So, while in Anchorage I periodically inquired about the dogs sleeping on the bed. I'd say it was within the first month the guilt started seeping into John's voice. I told him as long as he trained them again before I got home I couldn't stop him. Boy was I wishful thinking!

Picking the story back up about a month ago ...I started angling for the dogs to get off the bed again. We bought Oliver a new, bigger dog bed and started over. The first few nights we only had the one big dog bed in the bedroom, so doggie jealousy kept anyone from sleeping in it overnight. "If Sophie can be on the bed, so can I!" so then both dog beds came upstairs and we were successful!!
Joy in the Slette household once again!

Tonight while skyping with mom she asked how it was going with them sleeping not on the bed. Here are the nightly events as I relayed them...
We come up to bed and Sophie gets in Oliver's dog bed.
So Oliver gets on our bed.
John gets Sophie to get in her own bed, Oliver gets down and gets in his bed.
Sophie then moves into his bed as well. This is fine until Oliver gets up/moves in the middle of the night.
Inevitably he gets out of the dog bed, so Sophie makes herself comfy.
Which means Oliver now won't get back in his bed. *side note, he used to snag her bed all the time, but no longer, his is bigger and bigger is better in Ollie-land* so he now paces and whines until I (shhhh..either let him on our bed or) wake John to get Sophie out of his bed.
Sophie then moves over and Oliver is free to claim his bed again.
And one minute later Sophie then joins him again. LOL
Lucky for us this only happens once an evening. I thought about getting a second big dog bed, but Sophie just wants to sleep with him I'm sure. When we kennel them with friends, she has said that they both come out of the same crate most mornings. I guarantee you it's not Oliver joining Sophie.

So those are our dogs. We love them. They love us. Oliver still wishes Sophie would get lost on a walk I'm sure, but I know he'd be the one lost without her.

This is how I caught Sophie sleeping the other afternoon:



How they normally spend the day, when not licking on the littles:



A rare moment hanging in the bathroom (??? don't ask, I can't remember):



My original monkey see, monkey do-ers:




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