Hoo Hoo Is a Night Owl?? Vern, the Night Owl!!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

First of all, before I go any farther, I want to say I love Vern.  What we don’t love is Vern’s waking and sleeping patterns.  When I first brought Fudge home, we crated her at night.  In the beginning, I made up her crate like I would have liked it, if I were sleeping in a crate.  She had blankets, cushions and a snuggle puppy inside that crate with her from day one.  All that was missing was a few magazines, the TV remote, and a computer. What I hadn’t banked on was the fact that a Labradoodle has far more hair than I do, although that could change the further along I get into menopause. One of these days, I am going to wake up looking like Fudge or Vern.  Fudge used to wake up in the middle of the night panting and hot and I know we are not supposed to humanize our dogs, but I had to sympathize with her whenever I saw her in this state. I knew just how she felt, because many a night I have stripped down to nothing and awakened my husband by crying, “Am I in hell?  It is an inferno in this bedroom!”  Usually, he takes one look at my disheveled appearance, wild eyes, red face, and state of undress and says back, “no, but I think I am,” and moves farther away. Eventually, with Fudge, I wised up and took out most of the extra stuff in her crate and some of us slept better.

 

Along comes Vern.  With Vern, I only had the bare necessities in that crate with him from day one and he still got hot every night. Eventually, we stopped crating him and he slept on our cold, wood floors in the bedroom and we confined him at night to just our room.  This worked well for a while and then Vern started getting up throughout the night and standing at the bedroom door.  We are nothing if not trainable, so once again we found ourselves opening the bedroom door and letting the dogs out, so to speak.  It was our only choice if we wanted a good night’s sleep and besides, dog training should be done with a clear head and not in a sleep deprived state when you might accidentally yell out words that rhyme with sit and then you have a whole other problem on your hands in the middle of the night.   Just so you know, we can be strict when we want to, we did tell both dogs we had better not hear any shenanigans and we meant business, and since the only thing we ever found to the contrary was the occasional remains of a stuffy toy and bones strewn about, we once again thought “problem solved” and all slept better.

 

Then the tide turned yet again with Vern.  I don’t know if it is the cold or he has decided that since Fudge comes to bed with me when I am watching TV that he wants in on the action, but now most nights before I even get in bed, I find Vern already asleep and waiting for me right smack dab in the middle of our king sized bed.  Again, my motto is, “A sleeping doodle named Vern makes for a happy owner,” so I am fine with it, but poor Fudge has decided the accommodations are getting too crowded and might try to stay up on the bed with us for a bit, but usually one too many rolls by Vern into her space and she decides any place is better than up on that bed.  I alternate between liking Vern up on the bed and thinking about making our spare bedroom into Vern’s room and decorating it with Dog Bones Wallpaper and a lock on the outside of the door to keep him it at night.

Most nights, Vern is in a state of peaceful bliss until my husband comes to bed and then he gets his second wind.  As soon as my husband’s head hits his pillow, it seems Vern concludes that it would be a much better idea for my husband to pass out belly rubs and cuddles and forego a good night’s sleep.  If the hugs and cuddles are not forthcoming, Vern usually decides that he is not going to take this lying down and stands up on the bed to alert us he will be leaving.  Unfortunately, Vern does not seem to be able to tell the difference between human body parts and the mattress when he finds his footing.  Next, begins the arduous task of getting Vern off the bed and the beginning of a nightly game Vern likes to play called, “make the humans get in and out of bed.” 

 

The problem is Vern can jump off the bed, but he seems to like encouragement.  We started out helping him down and telling him he could do it and now he is like a stage actor needing applause after every scene.  At one point, we added a treat to this ritual and in retrospect, we now think Vern once again maneuvered us like a chess player does his opponent right before checkmate.  Now, every night the scene goes like this…Vern stands on the end of the bed…husband or wife gets up to get him down…Vern lays back down…husband and wife get back into bed…Vern stands back up…husband and wife turn on each other in an attempt to get the other one to get Vern down…..someone concedes defeat and gets up to get Vern down….Vern lays back down and looks like he has all the time in the world for this fun game…..above steps repeated until husband or wife yells, “give him the treat already!!!”….loser treks to kitchen, rattles treat jar, and both Vern and Fudge come running. I swear they high five each other after we give them the treats and before you tell us that Vern is playing us, we would like to respond back, “duh?”  All that is left for him to do is wear a Charlie Sheen nightshirt that says, “Winning!” I mean, we know we are being outfoxed by a large Doodle who eats mud and goose poop, but can we really be called idiots, if we know we are being duped and in the spirit of the DK rules, please be nice.

 

After all this and one more trip outside to take care of any forgotten potty needs, we are finally ready for bed. Sometimes, Fudge sleeps with us for a while on the bed until she gets too hot and other nights; Vern decides he likes it up on the bed with us after all.  On good nights, Vern makes it all the way through until the morning.  On bad nights, I wake up to the feel of a large paw tapping on me.  This caused some confusion in the beginning, because I would automatically respond with, “Not now, I have a headache….my god, you are an animal…..please get your paws off of me….or I am praying that is the TV remote,” only to roll over and see Vern.  On these nights, I can often talk Vern back to sleep and once I told him a bedtime story about an adorable cream colored dog who ended up at the after hours drop box at the SPCA because he kept waking his owners up in the middle of the night.  Unfortunately, my point seemed to be lost on Vern because he wagged his tail through the entire story and when I was finished, gave me a wet kiss.  On other nights he wants down to sleep on the floor, or in the foyer, or maybe in his crate, and on those nights, I wait to hear a loud “ther….umph” that tells me Vern is finally down for the count and finally, we can all get some much needed rest.

[Deanna & Desi & Cori]

Laurie - I think we lucked out in the Sedona sleep department rather than it being the result of good training on our part.  I'm a VERY poor sleeper and had enough trouble with another human in my bed, so we agreed from the start that Sedona would sleep elsewhere. The first week she was with us, my husband and I alternated sleeping in the master bedroom where Sedona's crate is, with the other in the guest room so at least one of us could get a decent night's sleep.  The morning of Doug's first turn with Sedona, I walked into the bedroom to find the two of them cuddled up under the covers.  He admitted he'd caved under pressure and agreed to be stronger in the future.  We survived his little blip and Sedona very quickly learned to love her crate!   

[Jane, Rooney & Stuart]

Oh my doodle bugs this is funny!!!!  Little 21.5 lb Rooney is the perfect bed partner - a small snuggler who has the bad habit of wanting to potty in the middle of the night.  He lets this be know by jumping off the bed and shaking himself to rattle his collar and tag.  Of course every time Rooney gets up so does 65 lb Stuart who happens to be a total bed hog.  Stuart refuses to jump up onto the bed (or into the SUV) so I have an ottoman pushed up against the bed to help him get up, can we say lazy.  Stuart will NOT sleep unless he can lay ON me.  Try sleeping with your legs pinned down by a 65 lb, too hot doodle.  Impossible.  If I can manage to squirm out from under him - he finds me and pins me down again.  It is no wonder that I am sleep deprived.  Course I shouldn't complain - Stuart is the worlds best hugger - yes he actually will crawl up in the morning and hug me with his front legs wrapped around my neck.  LOL.  Vern - you rock buddy.  Come spend the night at our house - you'd fit right in!!!!!!!!

[F, Calla & Luca]

@Laurie, sorry but you did ask : )

[F, Calla & Luca]

@Bruce Girl, Calla does the same thing at the base of the bed. I'd live with that but she also lies at the bottom of the mattress when my legs are bent. If I want to straighten them, since I can't stay in one position too long, I have to sleep on a diagonal since Luca is usually right next to my head. OMD.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

F, I was reading your comment to my DD while we were on the phone and told her that you just agreed that my DH and I were idiots...LOL! She said to tell you, she already knew that, even without a blog. Yes, I know we are, but I am like you and do love them cuddling in bed. Maybe we both just need bigger beds :)

Carol, I see you love Vern, but did not offer to take him...LOL!!!

Jane, You have a very smart rule and it does seem to work out for us in the summer when they are both hot, but the winter all bets are off. I am hoping Vern grows out of this stage, although he is two, so please pray for us :)

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

BG, I think that is a good name for Vern, but now we need one for Gavin, the cover stealer! Gavin knows to makes his move after his people are sleeping.....LOL!

Bonnie, Thank you! I will trade you Vern for Kona...LOL! Tell me when to drop him off :) Actually, Vern just started jumping on and off the bed. Prior to that, we had to hoist the 90 pound Doodle onto the bed or watch him circle it like a shark for hours. My kids I made get back in their own beds at night, but my Doodles are a whole other story :)

Barbara, You are a better woman than I am....these Doodles get the best of me....LOL! BTW, I think they think all of our couches are really their dog beds :)

Karen, Leave it to you to tell it to me straight....LOL!! I am willing to send Vern to you for a week and by the time the week is over, you will be elevating sweet Jack to Sainthood at night :)

Deanna, Ok, now I want to trade Vern to you for Sedona :) You really did hit the jackpot and handled your dog right from the very beginning. I guess we shouldn't start something, we don't want to continue. I am getting ready to tell Fudge and Vern that, right now, but I probably have to wait until they get up from their nap on my bed :)

Doris, LOL....I am telling you it is all that caffeine. That is your excuse, but what is Vern's?

[BG and Gavin]

I can picture the whole scene.  I think we shall start calling Vern "The Puppet Master."

I was chatting about Gavin's bedtime habits last night.  I will bet he is the only DK doodle that does not sleep on our bed but still manages to steal the cover.  He goes to sleep on the floor beside our bed and the only thing that makes sense is that he stands up at some point after we fall asleep, lmoves to the end of the bed, leans his body against the bed and slides back down to the floor pulling the comforter and blankets with him.  All's I know is that I wake up in the middle of the night with the covers around my navel and when I try to pull them back up, they do not budge.  So I keep scrunching myself down towards the end of the bed to try and remain covered.  By morning my legs are a contorted tangle and I have frostbite on my chest.  After I get up Gavin remains sleeping blissfully in his "nest" for at least another hour!

[Bonnie and Kona]

I know I think this every time, but really, this might be the funniest blog yet. Charlie Sheen "winning" for sure! Oh and by the way, it was raining last night so Kona decided he was not going outside in such "weather". He did not leave the house from 5 pm until 6:30 am. This doodle has bladder control. No middle of the night trips outside. Sorry for you guys. 

[Bonnie and Kona]

OMD This is so funny! How do you do it? We (DD) and I laughed through the whole story. Somehow I think it maybe funnier because we have a similar situation here. Kona begs to get up on the bed. At 27 inches and 85 pounds he can obviously jump up easily. But he has to be begged. I mean begged, pleaded with, cajoled. Finally, he will jump up for bedtime snuggles. (He jumps off just fine.) Thank heavens we never started the treat idea. I loved the opening about Fudge having everything but magazines, the TV remote and a computer. We do love our doodles. Gotta love the Vernors! 

[Barbara B., Sasha & Oliver]

Too funny Laurie.... I started leaving Sasha and Oliver out at night with my bed room door open.  The first night after watching some TV I just got up and went to bed, it was funny because both dogs were standing in the doorway looking at me.  Then.... both heads were at the end of my bed, then Oliver's two fron paws were on the bed, then next he was spooning me !!!!  Now I have white carpet in my bedroom with a white very expensive comfroter, this does not mix well with a big black doodle who sheds.  So now I shut my door and I "think" both doodles settle down on the couch of floor until morning.  Sometimes when Ollie wants his Mommy at 3 am he will stand outside my bedroom door and bark - arrrrghhhh.