To cut to the chase, I want the dog to sleep with us, Matt does not. I see his point. It’s kinda gross cause she licks her butt and would probably fart in bed. And there’s not enough space for all of us. And we’re not being the pack leader if we let her sleep between us. But I can’t help that obsessive desire I have to snuggle her all night long. Just once… or twice maybe, until the novelty wears off.

So my husband has set a few conditions where I could sleep with the dog all night long. Twice, we’ve slept on the pullout couch in the living room and allowed her up on the bed with us. But she inevitably falls into the crack between the mattress and the sofa, which requires a midnight rescue, so it’s not really all night long. And then that one weekend we went camping, she got to sleep next to me, but she was so scared the whole night and wouldn’t really SNUGGLE officially, so that doesn’t really count either.

Last night I pulled her up onto the bed just to “cuddle her a little while before putting her back on the floor for the rest of the night.” Matt eyed the whole affair suspiciously, but I was convinced Berlin would be so confused that she’d happily retire to the floor in a matter of moments to get away from her overly-snuggly and somewhat psychotic mother. Except I was wrong. Really wrong. When I tried to call her back to the floor where she belongs, she sat alarmingly still… not budging an inch.

Finally Matt was fed up and plucked her off the bed. No sooner had her paws hit the floor when she turned around and did the unthinkable: leapt back up onto the bed. My jaw dropped. Neither of us thought she could make the jump, and here we were being outsmarted by an 11 month old canine.

Holy cow, was I in hot water. I was responsible for teaching her this bad habit that we’d never be able to unteach. (I’m also somewhat responsible for her recent hovering under the kitchen table. Let’s not even go there).

After a lengthy discussion that lasted until midnight, we came to the compromise that if I can teach her to obey my voice commands, then she’s allowed on the bed for 5 minutes of cuddling before we go to sleep. After that, she needs to jump down and go to her doggy bed. I’m convinced that she can learn how to do this. I think.

I’m going to try tonight for the first time, although the temptation is hovering over me like a three-layer chocolate cake that is ALL MINE FOR THE EATING. Matt’s driving to NJ today, so I’ll be spending the night alone. It wouldn’t be SO bad for me to let her spend the whole night in bed with me, would it???

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 19th, 2008 at 5:01 pm and is filed under Dog Park, Marriage, The Idiotic Things I Do. You can subscribe to any responses to this entry through the RSS feed. Don't be shy! Go ahead and leave a response, or trackback from your own site.