Monday, September 25, 2006
The family bed
Chris has never been much of an animal person. He never really wanted pets, but the cats came with the Sharon Package, so he was stuck with them. But I had always wanted a dog, and somehow talked him into getting Monty. Monty slept on his own bed on the floor in order to help kick in the ‘The people are the alphas’ attitude. Besides, Chris still wasn’t quite an animal person, and what non-animal person wants a dog in the bed with him? So I was quite surprised one night, when we had had Monty about six months, when Chris asked me, ‘When can Monty start sleeping in the bed with us?’ Um, right now! So Monty has taken up a comfortable night time post at the foot of our bed.
Since we got Schroeder as a puppy, he has always slept in his crate. For the first couple of months, I’d wake him up at 2:00 or 2:30 in the morning and take him outside to pee. He sleeps through the night now, quite soundly. He’s just now big enough to get up onto the bed himself if he tries really hard.
So on Friday night, we performed the big experiment. We let Schroeder sleep with us. Monty stayed at the foot of the bed, and Schroeder nestled up in between me and Chris. I can’t say that I slept well, because I think I stayed half awake in order to stop Schroeder if he tried to wander off and get into trouble in the middle of the night. Saturday night was better if only because I moved Schroeder to the other side of me so that I wasn’t sleeping on the edge of the bed.
The best thing about all of this is that Schroeder is a cuddler. While Monty loves attention, he’s not all into the hugging. We’ve come to refer to my hugs as ‘forced affection’. He’ll be taking a nap on the bed all comfy looking, and I’ll give him a big hug, and he lets out this more-than-a-sigh but less-than-a-growl sound that just cracks me the fuck up. Schroeder, on the other hand, loves the love. And I love it that he loves the love. He curls up next to me at night, and he’s warm and smells like Fritos.
But there’s a bad thing about our new family bed. It’s thrown Monty for a loop. We’re now treating Schroeder as Monty’s equal, so he feels compelled to reinforce his Alpha-ism to Schroeder. He’s treating Schroeder like he did when we first brought Schroeder home. Monty’s not playing with him, and is being pretty mean to the pup. Not hurting him, but he’s like a grouchy old man, snapping and fussing.
It’s only been a couple of days, so what do we do, if anything? Will it play itself out and the dogs will be friends again soon? Or should we put Schroeder back in his crate at night in order to keep the order?
Since we got Schroeder as a puppy, he has always slept in his crate. For the first couple of months, I’d wake him up at 2:00 or 2:30 in the morning and take him outside to pee. He sleeps through the night now, quite soundly. He’s just now big enough to get up onto the bed himself if he tries really hard.
So on Friday night, we performed the big experiment. We let Schroeder sleep with us. Monty stayed at the foot of the bed, and Schroeder nestled up in between me and Chris. I can’t say that I slept well, because I think I stayed half awake in order to stop Schroeder if he tried to wander off and get into trouble in the middle of the night. Saturday night was better if only because I moved Schroeder to the other side of me so that I wasn’t sleeping on the edge of the bed.
The best thing about all of this is that Schroeder is a cuddler. While Monty loves attention, he’s not all into the hugging. We’ve come to refer to my hugs as ‘forced affection’. He’ll be taking a nap on the bed all comfy looking, and I’ll give him a big hug, and he lets out this more-than-a-sigh but less-than-a-growl sound that just cracks me the fuck up. Schroeder, on the other hand, loves the love. And I love it that he loves the love. He curls up next to me at night, and he’s warm and smells like Fritos.
But there’s a bad thing about our new family bed. It’s thrown Monty for a loop. We’re now treating Schroeder as Monty’s equal, so he feels compelled to reinforce his Alpha-ism to Schroeder. He’s treating Schroeder like he did when we first brought Schroeder home. Monty’s not playing with him, and is being pretty mean to the pup. Not hurting him, but he’s like a grouchy old man, snapping and fussing.
It’s only been a couple of days, so what do we do, if anything? Will it play itself out and the dogs will be friends again soon? Or should we put Schroeder back in his crate at night in order to keep the order?
idyllicchick, 10:12 AM
3 Comments:
Daisy, at Sep 25, 2006 8:28:00 PM
are kids fun I mean dogs.
same thing.
Smiles
don't crate schroeder give it some time.
same thing.
Smiles
don't crate schroeder give it some time.
We're gonna need a bigger bed...
I say, more beating for both of them! And less food!
That's what we do with our kids. *
(*kidding, kidding people!)