Good morning!! I cannot believe that I slept through the night; first time in a long time. As usual, Elsa is curled up tightly to me and Luke is dreaming and twitching away on his bed. I feel different having had a solid nights sleep; but it took some work getting here. Hopefully it will now continue. Why have I not been sleeping? The main reason is Miss Elsa. We had a great thing going for a while but since the Holidays, that all changed. I had worked at keeping her off the bed until I got up in the morning. The reason I didn't and don't want Elsa on the bed is that she wakes me up to get on. Plus she is a very heavy sleeper, in the very physical sense; feeling very much like an elephant in the bed.
If Elsa thinks that at some point in the night she can jump up and join us in bed; then she tries all night until such time. Not good. She sits and stares at the bed, flaps her ears and pokes the bed itself with her nose. If I don't want her on the bed; I could literally be woken up 12 times throughout the night. Not good. All that had changed before the Holidays; we were in a good routine. She went to bed with Luke and stayed there until morning. Very clear, no testing during the night; it was the way. But, someone (not mentioning any names, but their name rhymes with leave) changed all that. By allowing Elsa to sleep with us during the night; the whole pursuit of sleeping on the bed began again.
In the beginning of the pursuit; it started at 4:45am when she heard Brad (my son) get up for work. The next few days it started earlier, maybe 3:30 am. Then it's 2:00 am and it got earlier and earlier until most recently she wanted up at 10:30pm. She has to start the night on the floor with Luke; otherwise he gets upset and is restless. He likes to know that he is not alone on the floor. But midway he doesn't seem to mind. Nonetheless I mind, because until I invite the 600 lb. elephant up; then she wakes me up with her continual pursuit of being up.
So being sleep deprived I began to implement the previous rules of nighttime. It took several days for them to be established in Elsa's head. She has to be invited onto the bed so the quest continues; she tried and she tried and she tried. Which meant I didn't sleep and didn't sleep and so on. Elsa is very good with black and white, like most dogs are; it is the gray area that they don't do well with. If there was a chance for her to be on the bed then she was going to take it. She would continue her pursuit until such time; that she was snuggled up close to me. I am very happy to say that it only took two very tough nights to get back to the old routine.
It is a tough call between snuggling with the elephant and not. But for my own sanity and Mr. Luke's not wanting to be left out; she is designated to the dog bed. Which I might add is like a double king sized bed for them with pillows. I have joined Luke many times down there and it is crazy comfortable; I'd sleep there if I had to. We all need sleep, even Elsa, who was not getting enough sleep with her constant awake time trying to get on the bed. It didn't take long to implement the "no bed until morning" rule initially. Hopefully we are already there once again. She's a smart cookie, but also a very determined and driven snuggler.
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