Monday, September 22, 2008

Update On The Sleeping Poll

I was pleasantly surprised to see so many people vote on my poll. Thanks all you lurkers out there! I really enjoyed the discussions, and was most surprised to see that no one's dog sleeps with their kid. I wonder if that's because the people voting don't have kids (I know at least a few of you don't, and I don't), or if you all just want the doggy love all to yourself! I know if Theo were allowed in our bedroom, no pleading from my theoretical kids would tempt me to give up Corgi snuggles! Hehe.

I don't think we'll crate Theo at night forever. When we can trust him to not get into too much trouble while we're sleeping, we'll probably ask him to go into his crate at night and then just leave the door open. The problem is he'll definitely try and come into our bedroom, a place he isn't allowed. I would say we could put the gate up to block it off, but I would want to gate at the top of the stairs to make sure he's at least in a smaller, more controllable area. And I don't really want to buy a second gate. I can't just close the door because he wouldn't whine and cry. Hmmm...what to do? Secretly I still hope that Husband gets over the whole "I'm allergic so Theo can't be in the bedroom" thing.

On the other hand, Theo seems to really enjoy going to bed in his crate. When I get up to go to bed at night Theo instantly pops up from whatever he's doing (usually sleeping nearby me or Husband) to follow me downstairs, where I take him out to do his business for the night. When we're back inside he runs happily upstairs and does the happy ears back trot all the way into his crate where he waits for his nightly peanut butter treats before I close the door to his crate and he goes to sleep for the night. I always expect him to get grouchy at me for waking him up, but to my surprise every night he looks genuinely happy to be put to bed in his crate. So maybe I just shouldn't mess with a good thing!

7 comments:

Jenna Z said...

Woops, I didn't get to vote in the poll, I'm slow and forgetful! But Sully sleeps in his crate in my studio/his room. And just like Theo, Sully is downright excited every night to go to bed in his crate. Sometimes so much so that I want to calm him down and say "It's time for night-night, slow down little one and relax!" But he zips in there so fast and if I'm not right behind to close the gate after him, he pops back out, comes and finds me and WHINES for me to come tuck him in. Habits are hard to break!

Unknown said...

Ok, so I have an update. Lucy now sleeps on the bed. Not the whole night, but the last few nights she's been snuggling up either between us, or at our feet. Not sure if it's because it's getting colder? She used to sleep in her (open) crate, but recently it's either been under the bed, on her bed next to my bed, or on my bed.

JuLo said...

Lynn, awwww! It does sound like she's snuggling to get warm, but maybe she just wants snuggles. :)

Jenna, I love it! I love the Corgi whine when they don't get what they want. Theo does that when he wants to play fetch and I don't pick up his toy right away. I don't know why they love going to bed so much. I mean, his crate is open so he could just go in if he wanted, but he seems to like being put to bed. Maybe he can really hunker down and relax because he knows I'm in my room getting ready for bed once he goes in his crate?

Anonymous said...

Oh I am so jealous! I only ish we had been stronger and had all the doggies sleep in kennels at night. We now have four small dogs that all want to snuggle with us. While this is fun at first, one gets crank and growls when you bump her with your feet, two have decided to be jealous of each other and have horrible fights! If Theo is happy in his kennel, I say keep him there. By the way, he is soooo cute!!

JuLo said...

Hi Judy. That's true. I can't imagine having a small living thing sleeping with me because I'm all over the place when I sleep. We have a cal king and Husband still swears that he wakes up sore from me kicking him. Plus, one time my alarm went off and I was so tired that I slapped Husband on the top of his head thinking it was the snooze button. Hehe. No joke unfortunately. I'd hate to thwack Theo in my sleep. :(

Unknown said...

Ok, that is hilarious. Just a couple of weekends ago, my boyfriend did the same thing to me. He looked at me, and then pushed me on my forehead right between the eyes to turn off the snooze alarm...

JuLo said...

Haha! Hey sometimes you just have to hit whatever is closest to make the evil noise go away. ;)