Jake has slept in a soft crate in my room for eight months. Two reasons for that:
- uncertainty he could ‘hold it’ all night (the only clue he gives that he REALLY has to ‘go’ is ‘going’. I might not notice this when I’m sleeping)
- his
desire to keep planet earth upsnoring
I want him in a bed, mostly just because that is one of the joys I wanted to provide to him upon rescue. I don’t think he was given any bedroom permission at his first house let alone his own bed. In this home, you get both. Even if that means no one else EVER sleeps again.
The transition from crate to bed started with me buying a matching bed to Melvin’s (decorating matters in my home!). I put it in the room and Jake pretty quickly climbed on it to nap. On night one, when he realized that the crate was gone, he climbed right in. I thought ‘wow, look how easy this is!’. Melvin was of course already tucked into his bed. I did a success dance around the room along with some high fives. Easy peasy indeed.
About one minute later, Melvin became very perplexed as to why Jake was so close. Jake proceeded to roll over and stare dreamily at Melvin. Melvin got physically and emotionally uncomfortable and relocated to the carpet. Jake took that as an invite into Melvin’s bed. Melvin took that as an invite into my bed.
Set up #1 – Fail. Trust me, we tried for 5 nights. Fail, fail, fail.
Photos from this phase of testing:
Melvin: WTF is going on? Why is he so near me?
Melvin: Maybe if I turn away he’ll stop looking at me. Seriously dude, don’t be a creeper.
Melvin: Perhaps if I hide under this pillow the nightmare will end.
Phase #2: Then I thought, what if I break the visual barrier? At least until they get used to sleeping so closely to the other. So I took the teepee out of the loft (Jake loves that teepee) and set it up over Jake’s bed. Viola! This was totally going to work, my enthusiasm and optimism skyrocketed! And you know what, it did work! For five flippen minutes.
Melvin got comfy, no eyes were upon him (as far as he knew). Jake loves the teepee so he snuggled right in. Dance, dance, dance…. And then, the snoring started. And Melvin was startled to have that honk-song speaker so close to his head. So he moved to carpet. And Jake promptly moved to Melvin’s bed. And Melvin moved to my bed.
Stop the madness. No seriously, stop. STOP!
Melvin: I like that he can’t stare at me but why did he pee in my bed this morning?
Melvin: I can still feel his googly eyes on me.
Jake: Oh yeah, me likey my new cave.
Jake: What was that? Did someone just hear a honk?
Yeah, no clue why he snores.
Melvin: I hate you all.
We found a solution. I’ll share it with you tomorrow.
This made me laugh!!! And I have to know where you got those chevron beds for the pups
They are Majestic Pet and I got them on Amazon! They have a bunch of colors!
I totally feel your pain and Nola can 100% relate to Melvin. After the fall of Sarge’s Ottoman Empire, the four of us squished together on a queen bed. Nola was super unhappy and no one was sleeping, except Sarge. So, we bought a King sized bed. $2,000 later, I think we’ve found a solution for now. Until Sarge gets too close to Nola. Do they make a Super Duper King Sized bed?
HAHAHHAHAHAHAHA! I think you should keep the Sarge, now that you have the big bed and all!
Two thumbs up on the keeping Sarge. =)
Keeeeep Sarge! Keeeeep Sarge! Keeeeeeeeeep Sarge!!! 🙂
So funny! Looking forward to hearing about the solution 😉
It’s part solution, part give up!
ugh, everything is always so difficult! our pooches are the same way! were excited to hear the solution!
The things we do for them!
I only wish someone took this much effort to come up with a sleeping arrangement for me… you are a saint, lady!
I did give your guest accommodations a lot of thought before you came, does that count??
This made me honk-laugh! Can’t wait to see what you came up with.
We happen to love honk-laughter!!
I hate to say this but I’m laughing right now… I can just imagine the whole scene. I can’t wait to hear your solution!
Oh it was pure comedy, topped of with genuine frustration and complete let down!
This is like a comedy sketch! I love the part where you are relocating the tepee. Plus, I love that they have big and little matching beds.
I’m sitting in the salon under the dryer and laughing ou loud!
oh I tried many iterations with each new dog we added!
Stop on by for a visit
Kari
http://dogisgodinreverse.com/