Are you wondering how we’re doing battling Skeeter for the bed? Or have you assumed, based on the instagram photos, that she’s won and we’ve thrown in the towel?
We did, sort of, throw in the towel for awhile. The holidays, for instance — too much madness and mayhem. Too many people. She was in our bed constantly — which means we got no sleep because SHE IS A BED HOG.
Once everyone went home, TW took the situation in hand and offered her a compromise — which she grudgingly excepted.
It didn’t go quite that smoothly. There were a couple of nights when TW forced the poor baby to sleep in the kitchen, on the cold hard floor. Well, on her comfy bed on the cold hard floor. But, the puppy did not like this and she cried and whined and completely annoyed me. All. Night. Long. And especially early in the morning when she’d wake up and find herself cold and alone.
I admit it, I whined and TW gave in to me — not to the dog — and brought her back into the bedroom at night.
The compromise is … she can be on the bed until we say it’s bedtime and then she has to get off the bed and go to her place and stay there til she’s invited back to the bed. Or at least until I get up in the morning, at that point, she’s free to take her rightful place cuddling TW.
It took a couple of nights of treat training plus leash training to get her to get off the bed (and stay off) when we told her it was bedtime. And there were a couple of nights when she woke up and tried to sneak back into bed in the middle of the night. But, she did get right back down when told to go.
Now if we could convince her to stop eating the mail…
Some mail I don’t mind if my dog eats but my shoes are a different story. As for the bed I totally caved and she is there for better or worse. Our house sitter might be more strict with her when we leave but I can’t see it happening…