Dog Bed

Long ago, we made a decision that a dog would not sleep in our bed. Then, along came Rita. For anyone who’s ever had a dachshund, you may be surprised to hear this but Rita, a tiny little chihuahua, is about ten times more bull headed than any dachshund I’ve ever had.

Rita decided she was going to sleep with us and, at first, we were able to get her all tucked into her bed, then we’d sit and watch TV for a while, then we’d sneak off to bed, giggling that we were about to outsmart a little dog.

We’ve made the mistake of letting her sleep with us a couple of times and then, there was no turning back. I do not like sleeping with a dog! I do not like a dog deciding for us when it’s time to go to bed!

These days, she parks herself in front of the bedroom door about 5 p.m. and no one is going through that door unless Rita goes too! We’ve tried putting her bed on the floor beside our bed. Nope . . not falling for that trick.

Last night when we started to go to bed, Vince and I were planning how we’d get in the bedroom without her noticing. How crazy is that? We are the adults, right? We’re in control of what happens in this house, right? Nope! I got out of the shower and she was sitting by the bed. I left her in there and I went back into the living room. Vince and I were laughing. We decided we’d leave her in there and we’d go sleep in the other room but then she started barking . . just sitting by our bed barking, like she was saying “I know what you’re doing and it isn’t going to work!”

It was about 11 p.m. and Vince said “I’m going to find a solution!”

He ordered this bassinet. It will be here tomorrow. Just one more night for us to try to figure out how to get to bed without Rita wanting to sleep in our bed.

One night we brought two dining room chairs in the bedroom, put them next to the bed and put her bed in those chairs and she slept there. She was happy to be beside us but I was afraid all night that she would fall out of the chair. I think this bassinet may work. We’ll see.

We’ll put her favorite bed in the bassinet and then we’ll put her in there and pull it up to the side of our bed and hopefully she’ll be close enough to us that she’s fine.

She seems to have developed a fear of being left. If we’re gone more than a couple of hours, she ends up having tummy issues. I guess that goes along with my car not starting . . we need to leave the house more often. She’s gotten so used to someone being here with her every minute of every day that she panics when she’s left alone. We’ve ruined every pet we have! 🙂