Sleepin' with the dawgs...

Not to bore you too much with details of my personal life but I have a lot of back issues and don't sleep very well... Haven't for years, as a matter of fact... Too many hours in one position, and 'Brumhilda' (as I call my blasted back) will wake me up and 'talk' to me in a manner that I don't care for... "OUCHIE" does not describe it either...  And for those with back problems, I know you can relate...

At my house, my 'alpha' is Peanut (or 'PeanniePeannie' as she is known)...

By sleeping with me I gave (and give) her alpha status in the canine pack language... She just turned 16 years old, and other than her midnight 'I gotta go' tendency, she still acts like a puppy.... 

About 2-3 years ago,  she stopped going down the doggie steps and outside to do her widdlin at night...

After numerous (and many) tries to change this behavior, I realized it was old age creeping up and had no medical basis... So.... Rather than wake up with that 'OH NO' wet feeling, I moved Peanut moved to a crate for sleeping at night... It is at bed level and right aside of my bed,... She retains her alpha status but there are no accidents in my bed...

This was right around the time my doctor starting going on and on about allowing my dog to sleep with me... If you have problems sleeping at night, it is one of the first things they ask you... "Do you have a dog and does it sleep with you?  If so, you need to stop doing this and you'll sleep better."

The doctors give you a whole, long laundry list of things to do in a routine to sleep better at night and although I have put almost all of them into practice, I still don't sleep much better (overall)... 

I've sorta/kinda resigned myself to climbing into bed at 9PM, falling asleep around 10PM and waking back up around 2-3AM... Usually I get up and get to my computer, knock out a few hours of hard work and when I eventually get sleepy (if I do), I'll try and catch the other 2-3 hours of sleep I feel I am missing... It is a very weird schedule, but I have learned to work around Ms. Brumhilda if I want to get through each day now...

For about 18 months or so, my husband and I slept without any dogs in bed and two things became evident to me - 1) I don't sleep any better without a dog in my bed and 2) I don't like sleeping without a dog in my bed...

My husband is a late night TV watcher who can't sleep with the TV on, and I am not a TV watcher, but like the TV on for the white noise to sleep...

Otherwise, even small noises wake me up and then I get to lay there, staring at the ceiling and thinking or listening to the fan go 'whirl, whirl, whirlwhirl, whirl, whirl, whirlwhirl' while he snores (and not in unison with the fan)...

Not quite a year ago, one of my fosters developed a strong attachment to me and I resisted it for several months... After all, Momma is a Boxer/Pitty and I am not a fan of big dogs the older I get - I just don't have the strength to hold onto them in training modes...

But one of the major positive aspects of adopting a rescued dog is they all have this 'attitude for gratitude' somehow... I have always described it as they know just how BAD life can be, so when they get a good one, they appreciate it MUCH more, ya know?

Eventually Momma was more determined to become a Nelson than I was about resisting her unlimited devotion to me... When I finally agreed to adopt her outright, she was going to have a job and work for her keep...

I started training Momma around the last part of March in 2013 and by the end of May, she had her CGC certification done... 

Momma now is an ambassador of her breed and will basically lick to you death if given half a chance... It helps when you are trying to show kids at the rescue shop that not all big dogs are to be feared... Momma has done a LOT of good in the past year and brought much awareness to the statement, "It is NOT the breed, but the owner"...

I had trained Momma to sleep in her bed on the floor alongside my side of the bed and she was great about it... That lasted only a few months until my husband invited her into our bed one night when he retired early and wanted to pet her... 

After that, Momma would sit up with her head plopped down on the side of the bed, JUST STARING at me with those big dark almond colored eyes --- pleading to be allowed to come up into bed... I'm a tough broad but I can only take so much of that behavior and caved in... And almost immediately I realized just how much I missed having one of my dogs sleep with me...

With PeaniePeanie, I would pet her belly and she'd fall asleep curled into my belly as we both drifted off to sleep... It was almost like counting sheep at night for me... 

But with Momma?... She's FAR too big to curl into anything!... She developed an affinity to stretching out along my back, so we'd end up back-to-back as we both drifted off to sleep... It is like a giant heating pad and while I still don't sleep 'well', I fall to sleep easier and stay asleep more readily now... Make sense?

A few months back, Momma developed a new behavior in bed at night... At first, she'd get up with me on the 2-3AM stirrings and follow me into the office... Didn't take her long to realize when she did that, she left a nice warm bed and eventually I'd come back to either find her or crawl back into bed...  "So why bother?" she must have said to herself, ya know?

Now, if I get that 2nd shot at a full night's sleep, Momma stands up, waits for me to crawl into bed and get readjusted with the sleep body pillow, my neck pillows and my covers... She continues to stand there, staring at me, until I lift up the edge of my covers and invite her in underneath them!

Momma may only weigh 65 pounds, but she can dive in underneath the covers with the brute force of a Blue Whale!... Once underneath, she puts her paws over the sleep body pillow and now lays her head upon MY pillow! 

OMG!

At first, I wasn't keen at all about this new development and we had a few discussions about this... I didn't want her breathing into my face nor any of these slobbery kisses in the middle of the night either... Plus she snores (like my husband does) and between her, him and the fan, it was next to impossible to get back to sleep!

Eventually we adjusted like anyone does who loves a rescued dog... 

As long as there is no washing of my face at night and she's not snoring in my face afterwards, I can adjust and she's happy as a clam to be under the covers and sharing the warmth in those wee hours of the morning... 

They don't happen every day, but when they do?... They are precious to experience and bring about warm fuzzies about what I do as a rescuer...

Recently, I started fostering a small 3 pound Chihuahua that has a hard time holding onto her weight and eating like a normal dog... She, unlike any other dog I have ever fostered or seen, has taken to sleeping on Momma during the day like a pillow...

Deva has learned to balance herself on Momma's back and while I can find no other reason than the warmth, Momma doesn't even lift her head when Deva climbs on... 

It is the oddest thing, but I guess Momma spreads 'good sleep' wherever she goes?

So what's the moral of this story?  

For those of you who have already rescued a shelter dog, you already know... 

But for those you who have not (yet), there are many, MANY extra blessings that come with an adoption - beyond just knowing that you have saved this dog's life... Seldom have I found a rescued dog to have any habits I could not correct and the majority of them arrived in a shelter situation through NO fault of their own... They are not 'broken' or 'defective'... In fact, most of the rescued dogs I know, have met or have loved are BETTER than any puppymill puppy or purebred puppy/adult I have come across... 

And I also know that for every small bit of love I give a rescued dog, they give it back to me a hundred times or more... For sure, I love sleepin' with my Momma every night and she has enriched my life tremendously... 

So the next time someone gasps in shock when they hear you 'sleep with the dog', ask them how many times they have woken up with someone they'd rather have NOT slept with... ... I'm sure that will quieten down the negative look and comments!

As Always,
Linda  ♥