Take One Fudge and Call Me in the Morning!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

I have never had a problem sleeping.  My oldest sister reads a book while she walks, can’t sit still for a minute and thinks naps are a waste of time.  We once went on a ski trip with her and her family and I felt like I was at boot camp with Jillian Michaels or the Energizer Bunny.  We would finish one activity and she would immediately want to know what we were doing next.  If I said we were going to our room to relax, she wanted to know for how long and if I gave her any kind of a timeline, she would be at our door the minute our time was up.  I kept asking her husband why he couldn’t find an activity for them to do together, but he seemed relieved that she was otherwise engaged.  She is going to retire soon and I expect my retired brother-in-law will soon be looking for a job just so he can get a 15-minute break here and there and a lunch hour.  Whatever gene she got that causes this behavior clearly bypassed me, because I think naps are wonderful and siestas should be mandated in all states.

 

Sometimes, I think another great idea besides naps would be separate bedrooms. It’s not that I don’t like sleeping with my husband, but I don’t like coming to bed in complete darkness.  I don’t seem to have great night vision in our dark bedroom and I hate having to feel my way as I try to get to my side of the bed.   First of all, I never know where a dog leg or tail is going to be as I walk around to my side of the bed and more than once I have tripped over one of them and alerted John to my presence with my loud apologies to Fudge or Vern.  Secondly, John’s method of getting into bed at night is to just scoot anything on the bed over to my side.  I once came to bed to find the laundry basket of clean clothes pushed over to my side preventing me from getting into bed.  A lesser woman might assume this could be a hint of some kind, but not me, I just said as loud as I could, “seriously?” and turned on a light and then added, “gosh, I hope I didn’t wake you when I moved the laundry basket.”  I can understand an occasional hanger or a magazine, but a basket of clothes seems more like a giant middle finger covered in clean towels and underwear aimed in my direction.  There is really no excuse that the pusher of said laundry basket could give that would be plausible, but he still looked me right in the eyes and said he didn’t know where to put it when he came to bed and when I gave him a great suggestion, he said he didn’t think it would fit there. In the end, I had to add another rule to my long list of “Things I Never Thought I Would Have to Say Out Loud” rules needed by only one man in the universe.  I think I placed the rule somewhere below “if you can’t push the garbage in the garbage can any further down, it is time to take it out,” and above, “if you don’t want me to know you ate a sandwich over the silverware drawer, then close the drawer first.”  I think we are up to Volume Two in my rule book and I suspect someday when the kids are going through our stuff, they will turn to each other as they read some of the rules and say, “Who doesn’t know this stuff? It just seems like common sense to me.”

 

I took a turn there for a minute, but I was talking about sleeping before I went off on a tangent and getting back to that topic, once I get safely into bed I usually breathe a sigh of relief and hope Fudge is there.  For as ornery as Fudge can be outside, she is a dream dog in the house.  She can be a bit of a bed hog, but I just sleep better when she is near.  The good thing about Fudge is she is extremely malleable when she is sleepy and reminds me of Gumby.  When she is outside, it takes two hands, a little trickery, some quick thinking, and a stern voice just to remove sleep from her eye, but inside I could fold her in half if I wanted to, pull her to me, flip her over, and hug and kiss her a million times until another human says I am starting to make them uncomfortable.  Fudge has such a soft, silky coat and unlike another Doodle I know usually smells pretty good, so as bedmates go, she is a keeper.  I love cuddling with Vern, too, but he takes up far more room on the bed and never stays asleep the entire night and is not very gentle about easing you out of your sleep state. Being thumped by a large paw repeatedly is the technique he has perfected and then that is followed by “I need a treat” before I am jumping off of this bed, (yes, I am still talking about Vern), so is it any wonder that most of us prefer he fall asleep on his own bed.

 

There is just something about having Fudge beside me that makes me feel calmer and more relaxed.  I highly suspect that she gives off some kind of a sleep pheromone/furmone because one minute I am watching The Property Brothers and the next thing I know it is two hours later.  As far as I am concerned it is just another benefit to having a dog and sure beats a sleepless night or insomnia. If only I could bottle this, I would be rich.

My mom says I have furmones :)

[F, Calla & Luca]

I understand totally. Often Luca leaves the bed if I am watching TV, rustling pages etc. after I turn out the light he jumps to his spot and I feel all is well : ) I love the rules, clearly they need publishing.

[Miss Ellie]

Laurie your tangents are what keep us coming back for more...well that and your AMAZING story telling & sense of humor...they are the best parts and why I go through so many boxes of kleenex...I am always laughing so hard it makes me cry...I feel the very same about Ellie...she is a joy to sleep with and the sleeping positions I end up in because of her & our cats that also sleep on our bed are worth it...because I truly couldn't sleep as soundly if they weren't there...and who can deny that wonderful feeling when you awake and they are all so happy to see you...PRICELESS:)

[Cheryl and Finnegan]

I love your "tangents."  I've never let a dog sleep on the bed until FInn and I only started it so I wouldn't have a puppy yapping at me at 5 AM. Once in bed, he's a lazy bean and a cuddle bug. Kind of like going back to childhood and sleeping with your teddy bear :)

[Lonnie & Libby Lu]

Libby and Fudge are much alike Laurie!  She is an angel in the bed and just happy to be there! Once in a while she desides to lay across the bed and gives us a look like "three's a crowd", but in the end she curls up at our feet and we are all happy sleepers.  There was a time when "no dog would ever be in our bed" and then came Libby!    She loves to cuddle in the morning and would stay in bed until noon if I would let her!  Nothing better!

[Camilla and Darwin]

Darwin is not a great bed mate - he will spread out as much as possible without consideration for the other two people in the bed. His fur doesn't smell too bad but that breath could definitely bring me out of a deep sleep (still talking about Darwin here, although DH can have his moments).

I love the blog and the photos!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'm jealous. JD loves lying on my bed as long as I'm not in it. I'm sure I too would feel calmer and more relaxed if he were next to me.

 You are a lucky doodle mom, and those pictures of Fudge are just stunning!