You all know that Luke has recently been transitioned to the dog beds on the floor at night. He has become far to frail to be on our bed sleeping so we made the decision. I started to wonder how Luke would let us know that he needed out. When Luke was young and sleeping on our bed; he would dive off and dive back up on the bed over and over until we woke up. It was very effective, he would land on my husband; being that the door is on that side of the bed. There was no misreading what he needed. But now that he was on the floor; how would we know that he was up and about?
I found out last week and again last night. He stomps by the door; he spins and makes a fuss in general. It just so happens that there is a nice little squeak in the floor at the door that assists in his communications. Elsa got all fired up by his performance last night and when I opened the door you'd of thought that the two were shot out of a canon. She thought it was a game; his jumping around had triggered her play switch.
All of our dogs, except for Jessie (Jack Russell) let us know that they needed out at night. Even as an adult dog if Jessie had to go, she would go at night time. She was fully housetrained and would never go in the house any other time. But if she had to go in the middle of the night; like when they have diarrhea, she'd go. That little girl had an iron stomach so it only happened maybe twice in her adult years. But as she got into her golden years it started happening more often so she slept in her crate. There she always let us know that she needed out because she most definitely did not want to go in her crate. Tilley use to sit and stare at the door. When she realized that this was not enough she would make a moaning sound that was hers alone. It would awaken me in an instant and I'd be up and out in a flash.
I have considered placing a set of bells on the door like I have in the kitchen; but have reconsidered that idea. I'm thinking that the bells with the young dogs will most definitely be abused and being woke up for the frivolous antics of youngn's doesn't go over so well in the middle of the night. So I will rely on their own ingenuity to figure out a way to let us know.
Elsa has yet to wake us at night. I'm not sure what she will use but I'm sure that she will figure it out. She is the smartest dog that we have ever lived with so it will be interesting to see what she does when the time comes. Of course I'm not holding my breath; if that moment never comes I'll be quite happy about it. After letting Luke and Elsa out last night we went back to bed in the darkness of 1:30 am. They of course were sound asleep very quickly. Listening to their whimpers and tiny growls I wished that I could sleep like that. Awake one moment and asleep the next. Funny, as Luke ages he sleep much more sound. Me on the other hand? Not so much.
It's weird, Duncan our 1 yr old comes and wants out, but if you look closer Charli who just turned six yrs old, is the one who really wants out. It seems like she told him to tell us. Question is, how do the talk to each other without talking.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sherri....Your Luke reminds me of my Fairfax....I have 3 dog pillows on the floor and an ottoman at the foot of my bed with the colder weather he always manages to hop up and sleep at the foot of my bed...all 100#s of him and my other twoodle just loves her fleece pillow on the floor.
ReplyDeleteTwoodle Love at Night
In the rare event that Walter J Dog needs to go out at night, he stands by the bed and stares at me until I wake up. He never makes a sound. It must be some kind of ESP (extra sensory poodle) thing!
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