Soon after my home improvements this summer, I decided to adjust the sleeping arrangements between Fred and I. As you well know, I love Fred, dearly, not to the point of weirdness, but he means the world to me. Pretty much all of his little life, he has slept in the bed with me, under the covers. For the most part it’s worked fine, kind of. His hair is very coarse and he sheds plenty of it. It can be penetrating at times. This can drive a person crazy, it’s itchy. Once, I was walking in my bare feet around the house and one of his hairs poked into my foot like a sliver. I had to get the tweezers to remove it, it was weird and it really hurt. That’s how coarse it is.
Well, it was time for Fred to sleep in his own bed, his snoopy bed, which he readily sleeps in during the day. It was going to be a warm night and I just didn’t want to deal with the “snuggler”, the hair, or the occasional kick that he’s famous for. I put the snoopy bed on my bed, had a “conversation” with Fred about the new arrangement and he reluctantly agreed. That was about mid July when we started our new “arrangement” and it has worked out very good since then, actually it’s worked out really good, for me anyway. Fred, not so much.
Even though it’s getting into the upper 40’s to low 50’s at night, I still like to have my ceiling fan on and my window cracked open just a bit when I sleep, I just do. It is very stifling for me if I don't have at least a window open a little. I know this can be an issue for Fred so I have tried to make sure that Fred will stay warm while he is in his snoopy bed. It is a challenge. You see, Fred won’t get a winter coat and the Boston breed only has one layer of fur, unlike most dogs, or animals for that matter. Most animals have 2 or more layers. He just isn’t very well equipped for the temps to be too hot or too cold. So before I go to sleep at night I make sure Fred is comfortable and covered up. By covered up I mean covered up. Completely tucked under my old sweatshirt that I use for his top blanket. No nose peeking out, nothing. Most nights he stays that way all night. He really is a funny little guy.
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| Very cozy snoopy bed |
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| I tucked the snoopy bed into my old robe for extra comfort. |
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| Obviously he's sticking out here, it wouldn't really be that interesting if he wasn't. |
Apparently at some point very early this morning, his covers came off, he made sure I was aware of his plight. He was cold.
As I lay there, trying to figure out why I was awake, I started hearing various noises coming from Fred's direction, not ordinary Fred noises, I heard heavy sighing, an occasional high whine, and a teeth chattering like sound. Ah Ha! Mystery solved! Fred was cold and he needed me to do something about it...NOW. As soon as I glanced in his direction, he POPPED out of his snoopy bed like a shot and stood above me, stared at me with his huge eyes and shivered.
Now here’s where it gets tricky. I know I could just I let him climb into the bed with me and get right back to sleep, that would be the easy thing to do. However, if I do that, I am basically telling him it’s OK to wake me up in order for him to get under the covers. This just isn’t OK for me, I’ve really been enjoying my space a lot and I want this sleeping arrangement to continue. If I let him do it once, it will become his norm, one time, that’s all it takes with Fred. So I compromised, in a way. I let him sleep on the pillow by my head. At first, Fred was quite happy just to be near me and I almost dozed off. Then the whining, chattering and shivering started, again. He was still chilly and I knew it. He was totally flying off the charts on the cuteness scale too. So of course, I started smiling because he was so cute. I probably laughed out loud. Well, since I was smiling and laughing, that was his cue to really turn on the pathetic adorableness, the whole thing was perpetuating. It was all I could do to not just grab him and snuggle the crap out of him. But I didn’t, and it was very hard for me to resists. Fred knows very well how to push my buttons in order for him to get his way, and that’s one of them. Instead, I got up. By then it was a little after 5:00 AM, I was wide awake.
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| "What? No, I don't want to get up, it's too early. I can't open my eyes." |
I came downstairs, made my coffee and I have been cuddling and snuggling with Fred ever since. It’s now 9:30 AM. I have been up for hours.
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| "This was NOT what I had in mind" Me neither pal... |
Tonight, I think I am going to put a heating pad in his bed, set it on the lowest setting and see how that goes. It has an auto shut off feature and it's pretty much brand new, which is good, just not sure if this will be the solution.
Any thoughts?
