Do Good Things Happen In Threes Too??

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

This week has been a tough week. My DH has been gone most of the week and with Vern getting up a lot at night, I was not getting enough sleep. I have posted before about Vern being a bit of a night owl and got some great feedback and suggestions. The one I liked best was from a member that said they let there dog roam at night. If that didn't work with Vern, we were going back to crating every night. Right now, they sleep in our bedroom with our door closed. Out of sheer frustration the other night, I took Vern out around 2:30 am and brought Fudge back to bed and just left Vern do as he pleased. Well, here is what happened.

Good thing #1: He was perfect. In the morning, I could see he had been busy emptying his toy box of bones, balls, ropes, etc., but nothing else had been disturbed or chewed. No pacing, no barking, no disturbing us. etc. Perfect. Plus, this morning, I got up and Vern was sleeping in his crate in the foyer. In other words, he had crated himself :) I do feel it is much cooler out there and that was part of the problem in our bedroom.

Good thing #2: Yesterday morning, I woke up to find our basement flooded due to a leak in our toilet tank. What a mess. I spent almost all morning cleaning and mopping and doing laundry. We keep a plastic lid (yes, that is correct) at the top of the steps to prevent the dogs from coming down into the basement. I was so busy working that I did not check on the dogs once (bad doodle mommy). I had no idea what to expect when I came upstairs. Well, Fudge had been waiting at the top of the stairs for me to reappear. She worries about me when she knows something is wrong. Vern was sound asleep in the foyer on my antique sofa, otherwise known as, Vern's expensive dog bed. Nothing had been disturbed.

Good thing #3: All week, we have stopped crating the dogs when we leave. Again, great suggestions by other members on the best way to do this. Yesterday, we were gone three hours and no problems. I hope like Shelly said, me writing this down does not jinx this. Again, perfect.

 

So, today I think I have the best dogs in the world. Monday, I wanted to ship them to any DK member that wanted them :) As I write this, I am looking out the window at a brand new HUGE hole Vern just dug this morning. Oh well, I am closing the shade and refusing to look. I like ending my week on a positive note.

 

[Jennifer,Chloe & Myla]

HI Laurie, sorry about the basement but the rest sounds great. I think if my husband gave our more freedom they would do better because they are not cooped up. So he's a night owl and found his toys-that's pretty funny! The rest sounds good, we always cringe when we open the door and hope that nothing happened when we were gone since they started staying out on their own-you never know but we always seem to expect the worst. I think that's adorable that Vern went back to his crate-I wish mine would nap in there if the door is open. Congrats!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Nancy, I am glad to see there are other roamers out there :)

Cheryl, Thanks. That is so funny about having to close the crate.

[cheryl & oliver]

Laurie, I am so happy for you!!!..I only remember the early months with Oliver, or should I say the first month where he would get up every 2 hrs, crying and carrying on until someone on Doddlekisses and my vet said to put the crate in my room.  I didn't want to do that, so I slept in the den with him that night (that is where his crate was) and I slept on the sofa where he could see me.  the first time he got up, I told him I was here and to go back to sleep, he laid down, and never got up until 7:30 the next morning.  Needless to say his crate was in our room after that.  So I felt your pain.  I am so happy that Vern can roam free, and you can get the rest u need...Oliver still sleeps in his crate, not my doing, his own thing, and we have to close the crate door or he barks till u do..Silly dog, but I am not going to complain...

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

My two doodles roam from here to there and there to here all night long, sleeping one place or another.  Our springer sleeps on the foot of the bed and does NOT move.  I assume this is a doodle thing.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

BG, That is so funny. Gavin the doodle cop. I love it. How is he feeling? Did you survive your rough week?

[BG and Gavin]

This is crazy!  I was going to write you today and ask you how you managed to switch Gavin out for Vern last night!  Mylie was here for the first night and Gavin woke me up three times during the night.  It seems that Gavin thinks he's the doodle cop and every time poor Mylie left our room to get some air (or whatever) Gavin narc'ed her out by waking me up and making me get up and look.  Soon as I brought her back in the room - he went back to sleep.  This morning I was thinking "now I know how Laurie feels!"

[Anna and Achilles]

Laurie I am so happy it has worked out, there is nothing like sleep deprivation!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Carol, We have two fans going at all times in our bedroom and it is cold to this human. Our foyer is freezing, though, and I guess Vern is half polar bear.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

I have never had a dog that liked his crate until Vern. Funny because, he spent the least amount of time in there at night of any of our dogs. Sometimes, I even find him in Fudge's crate. I have never seen her go in there ever by herself. Silly dogs.

[Carol and Banjo]

I wake up alot at night because DH loves to keep the room "nice n' toasty"....so that may be why Vern is waking and not due to needing to pee.   That's so great that he settled himself nicely for the night!    I love that you kept a positive attitude...thinking about good things coming in 3's and not letting the toilet mishap throw you!