Except, right now he looks like this:
Poor little guy. He chewed off his dew claw last week.
Why???
I doubt that we will ever know. But the vet had to surgically remove the remainder of the dangling claw, and now tiny, white Piper has to wear a cone for two weeks.
The upshot is that he does not fit under my bed with his cone on. Well, he could... if he were brave enough to bear a bit of friction (the cone squeezing under the bed frame) followed by a little "pop" (the cone expanding back to its intended shape under the bed). But he is not brave at all, and so he has not been sleeping under the bed.
And the upshot of that is that he sleeps by the side of the bed, and I keep stepping on him in the wee small hours.
There are very few sensations less pleasant than stepping on a decrepit 12-year-old dog in the middle of the night. It is unpleasant when he growls and snaps (very small threat there, as most of his teeth are gone now). It is even more unpleasant when he makes no sound at all; that's just plain disconcerting.
For a few more days, I'm going to need to concentrate on coming fully awake in the night, awake enough to be mindful to watch out for the little dog huddled forlornly by the side of my bed.
If you liked this post, you can read more about Piper here and here.
Do you have issues with pets and sleep?
This is one of the reasons a dog must be in a crate at night, IMHO. I slept so terribly when we had Piper (way, way back...) because I kept imagining he was walking around. Not sure if he was or not. Zoe snored terribly, even through my earplugs she woke me occasionally. - Amy
ReplyDeleteYes, night-time crating is an excellent thing. Unfortunately, it is difficult to revert to it once one has given it up.
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