DANG, I'VE RUINED MY DOG

Yep, I've ruined my dog. Callie has been a way above average dog. She is very smart, obedient to a fault, loving to the point of being needy and has dispatched her share of moles and voles. She is also fun and entertaining, thus basically perfect.

Callie is also a dog that craved being outside.  Her days in captivity at the Humane Society made freedom to run her greatest priority. She is very high energy and usually spent most of the day outside running hard and happy.  

I have not allowed her on my bed and she has never asked.  It has just been an unwritten rule. I blissfully sleep alone. She was very happy with the couch and a lovely, over sized dog bed in the living room.

Then recently when I was feeling a bit puny with a nasty cold and needing a bit of distraction from my miseries during the daytime, I made a mistake and invited her onto my bed.  It took a lot of coaxing and I eventually had to lift her to get her onto the bed. This is a dog that can vertically leap four feet with ease but couldn't figure out the 3 foot high bed. She would  jump half way up with a guilty, uncertain expression then slide off.

It was as if we humans were told as adults that it is now OK to pee our pants. Our inhibitions and training would not let it happen. She couldn't wrap her head around the sudden permission to do a forbidden thing.  Her mind would not let her muscles work. Thus I had to help her. 

Eventually she  understood this was now permitted and would pounce on the bed eagerly to support me in my misery. Oddly for the longest time she didn't snuggle but instead, she and the cat stood side by side at my shoulder, staring down at my face as if checking to make sure I was still breathing. It was a bit eerie but also amusing, thus they stayed. Any diversion is good when you feel yucky.

However, now that I am well, my bed during daylight hours has become her only goal in life besides food.  She now only goes out to do her business and then wants right back inside. No more running around outside chasing bunnies or trying to dig up moles. After just a few minutes of accomplishing her toilet, she wants right back inside. Now when I open the door she runs right past me (Patti who?) to leap upon the bed where she quickly stretches out and inflates from a 20 pounder into a heifer.

Night times remain off limits for both pets in the bedroom. I do have a door. Yes, I could simply close the door in the daytime also but that would banish the cat who has always had bed privileges during the day. It is about the cat's only entertainment outside of a window seat.  Besides, this is giving Callie such a HUGE amount of pleasure. So for now, she is allowed. I do worry when summer comes and Callie rolls in something dead outside then leaps upon the bed. Ewww.   Retraining will happen then. She is smart-- she will learn.

One definite plus is that I can now sit on the couch watching my baseball games totally unmolested as I am no longer of interest to either pet. Ahh.

Yeah--- I like orange.

For now,  we are good.  Stinky dead stuff is somewhere in the future. As Scarlett O'Hara would say,"I'll think about that tomorrow----after all---tomorrow is another day." 

Have you ever broken a rule for a child or pet only to realize you might have created a monster?  Did you withdraw the privilege or were you the one to adjust?  Guess who is adjusting here?