Jumping back to April…
The crate was not working that first night since Mr Whiny Pants (not his real name) didn’t like it, and I needed to get some sleep. So I made the decision to sleep downstairs on the sofa while both dogs slept on the dog beds.
Except only one dog bed was being used. Sophie, my spoiled 5-year old mutt loved her PetSmart beds (she had one upstairs and one downstairs). I figured she would love love love an Orvis bed, so my mom went ahead and ordered one for her for Christmas. And my parents’ dog Lucy (the loveliest seven-year-old puppy you’ll ever meet) just loved it, broke it in with a few nights on it during my holiday in Wisconsin.
But Sophie didn’t like it. So it just stayed nice and clean in the living room while Sophie used her PetSmart bed and the sofa as her territory. Rufus decided he would join her there.
I knew this wouldn’t go over well, and I was a little worried about a possible kerfuffle between the two in the wee hours of the night. I had to be at work at 7am to deal with teenagers so I didn’t want to be too sleep-deprived. I scooped up the wiggly puppy and plopped him on the Orvis bed. He fought and fought until he realized he was on the nicest bed he’d ever been on. There was a bit of “No! You can’t make me! Wait…ahhhhhh.” It’s been his ever since.
I slept like crap that night. Not because of the dogs – they snored away the hours except for the one adorable moment around one a.m. when Rufus walked over to me, kissed me, and went back to his comfy plaid dog bed.
At five my alarm went off – not that I needed it. I got maybe two full hours of sleep. Neither dog was thrilled to wake up so early but they dutifully went outside. I gave Rufus about half a cup of food in an extra dog bowl (I’d given him the same amount the night before) and he wolfed everything down. He found the toy box and emptied it quickly. Then I had to leave. Ugh.
Rufus went into the crate. I wouldn’t be home until afternoon, but fortunately my ex-boyfriend said he could stop by and check things out. He could let the puppy out, get to know him, tell me of any massive damage, etc.
Things went just fine. The EBF told me they all sat on the sofa and watched Rambo together. An excellent start.
Unfortunately my day got a skosh stressful when, on next to no sleep my principal sauntered into my classroom for my semester evaluation. Funny how that happens on the worst freaking days possible. I still got excellent scores but it made things rattle around in my sleep-deprived brain more than I needed.
The Rufus Files 