My days, these days, are directed by this 4 month old Labrador puppy. Starting at 6 a.m. Yes, that is when this primadonna stands over me in the bed and wakes me up to begin our day. Oh, yeah, but only after she gets my husband up at 3 a.m. to go out, afterwards returning to our bedroom and bugging me until I pick her up and put her in the bed with us. She has, however, learned that if she wants to stay in the bed, she must sleep at the foot of the bed.
OK, on with the day. We (meaning me and the 4 dogs), trample downstairs and I proceed to dole out dog treats. The yorkie gets 2 and the retrievers each get 4. This is based on the fact that the retrievers can eat 4 in the time the yorkie can eat 2 so it all comes out in the wash.
After all of that, the morning routine begins. This is not a pleasant routine mind you. While I'm trying to enjoy my coffee and updating the blog, I am constantly having to get up and let the dogs in...let the dogs out....let the dogs in....let the dogs out. All of this is due to Kelli's psycho morning behavior of running through the house and picking play fights with the other dogs. By 8:30 a.m. she has collapsed and I manage to be able to go to the gym to swim for an hour.
Between the time I get home and about 1:00 p.m. she is pretty self sufficient. Meaning that she mosies around the house and naps here and there. At 1:00 sharp, she is by my side with her paw on my leg. It is serious nap time. No, I'm not kidding. We go upstairs and I have to put her on the bed and we take a nap. Usually I read but if I do happen to fall asleep, she is there to wake me at precisly 3:00 p.m. in the same manner she wakes me in the morning, standing over top of me. I'm really not making this up. Ask Chris, I disappear from the blog world between 1 and 3.
Between 3 and 5 p.m. we are back to the routine of letting the dogs in....letting the dogs out...letting the dogs in...letting the dogs out. Again, due to Kelli's psycho behavior. Precisly at 5:00 p.m. she is sitting at the garage door waiting for dinner. After dinner, more phycho running around. At this time in the evening, she chooses to stay outside to play and run the fence with the neighbor's dog.
At 8 p.m. she is on th sofa to watch the O'Reilly Factor. Yes she watches O"Reilly with me. (she also likes to watch the Colonel on Sunday mornings but, shh, don't tell him). She continues to nap until exactly 10 p.m. That is when she is back by my side, with her paw on my leg, barking at me to tell me it's time to go to bed. It's even gotten so bad that if I don't have the light out by 11, she is giving me the eye.
Then we start all over.
Now, I know what you're thinking..and don't say it. My mother says it all the time. I'm nuts. Well maybe I am. But I gotta tell ya', I didn't have my kids on a schedule this good when they were little. But then I don't have Kelli on a schedule...she has me on one.
Hmmm....
Lisa
It sounds like your dogs and my dogs have been talking and sharing strategies. My mother thought I was nuts too until she started living with me and the dogs and now she is nuttier than me.
Posted by: Nurse Judy | July 25, 2005 at 12:12 PM
Lisa:
I just had an idea. Why don't you have readers send in photos of their pets. Something to lighten up the world events and 103 degree heat. However, I don't know if you have the capability of doing this except through e-mail.
Posted by: Nurse Judy | July 25, 2005 at 12:16 PM
That's a great idea Judy...we'll check with typepad to see if we can do that other than through e-mail.
Posted by: Lisa | July 25, 2005 at 12:51 PM
We always had a dog while my kids were growin' up. (Had to put down a lab/retriever after 15 yrs in the family). They say, and I believe, that every kid should have a pet and every kid should have the experience of putting down a pet. A 19 yr old, sleeping on the floor with a dog, the night before the dog would be put down, is the most heartwrenching and one of the most important events of a parent.
Posted by: Chris Sears | July 28, 2005 at 12:45 AM
Why don't you cut a dog door into the wall, or back door and let the little shits go and come as they please. The Home Depot has them at a reasonable price.
Posted by: Don Adams | August 12, 2005 at 03:56 PM
Gee Don, now why didn't I think of that. Maybe because if my dogs can come and go as they please...so can other little creatures such as the racoons and possums that we find on our deck on occasion.
But keep those suggestions coming.
PS..."little shits"... dems' fightin' words bud.
Posted by: Lisa | August 12, 2005 at 04:42 PM
Damn, Lisa, ease up...my neck must be slightly redder than yours cause in the part of Virginia where I was reared "little shits" and "shit birds" were serious terms of endearment. And I don't think the dogs would let interlopers into the house through their own private entrance.
Posted by: Don Adams | August 13, 2005 at 01:27 AM
Don,
"shit birds"...I'm very familiar with...and yes, it was a term of endearment in our family. Of course so was the phrase.."don't be so damn stupid."
It's been a long hard road trying to lighten up the red in my neck, but you know how it is, you can take the girl out of the country but you can't remove the "red neck" entirely from the girl.
Glad to know you weren't dissin' on my dawgs. Ya' come on back now, ya' heah.
Posted by: Lisa | August 14, 2005 at 12:06 AM
Ahhhh....the joys of being owned by a dog!!! I have the prettiest brown-eyed beagle you'll ever lay eyes on--and he's single-pawedly made me lose all good sense. He's a "pound rescue," and golly lolly does he ever have issues. When he wakes at 3:00am, he feels compelled to wake ME just....well, just because. I wouldn't trade that cold nose on my cheek and paw on my arm for anything!!! Bless 'em all!!!!!
Posted by: Kristin | January 23, 2006 at 12:09 PM
I love this post! its so fun, i was smiling while reading it, imagining all the mess with the bunch of dogs, i love that, i love dogs, i wanna have a dogfull life like that haha, all that is so cute, u should post more picts of them... i had a dog once, and he use to wake me up like that too, he use to stand on me and jump on my chest or back till i wake up, but he was a puddle, so he wasnt too heavy...
by the way i work in a magazine, and i was looking for tips for moms, tu publish it on mothers day, and i got here i dont know why.... :S , c ya!" :P
Posted by: Marivic | May 02, 2007 at 01:46 PM