I knew it! I knew it! Sooner or later it was bound to happen and for Sanity last night was the night. Along about 3 a.m. I woke up with a start and my heart just a banging in my chest. What was that loud thud? It sounded like it was in the bedroom, whatever it was. With a some what shaky hand I fumbled around and finally turned on the light. There stood Sanity on the other side of the bed with a very befuddled look on her face. She had just fallen off the bed!
When she climbed back into bed she was very careful to stay away from the far side. By morning the pressure was such that I thought I would be the next one to fall out of bed. Now I have a better understanding as to why all my Dobes start out sleeping on their side of the bed and then at some point end up sleeping in the middle or as close to me as possible. I really think it is fear of falling that triggers the problem.
Climbing into bed rather than jumping on the bed is an interesting thing. Wrap doesn't climb or jump, instead she leaps. With age she continues to come closer and closer to the bed before making that leap, but it is still a leap. For some reason she has forbidden Sanity from leaping or even jumping. Sanity has no intentions of crawling and so she uses the chest at the foot of the bed as a step stool and climbs in. It seems to work well for the both of them and I don't much care.
Did the hold today under what I would call "extreme duress". 15 seconds, no hands on her and her dealing with Leo all but breathing down her neck, Spirit banging into her and some of the other dogs doing a screaming squirrel dance. What a good job.
Now about that squirrel. I don't know who finally caught it. I don't even know exactly when it was caught. What I do know is the Sanity was the one to end up with it. By the time she thought to bring it to me it was very, very dead. Not only dead, but all gooey and slimy and covered in dirt, bits of twigs, leaves. A totally yuck sort of thing. I figured it was just the time to start teaching a "spit" command. No way did I want her to "give" that thing to me. Nope, I wanted it spit in the pooperscoper shovel. After several minutes of her pretty much saying, "you gotta be kidding" she grudgingly spit the carcass out. Good, good girl.
Well, it is sort of hard to explain. I just sort of yell, "SPIT" as I charge in. Viola! Whatever was in the mouth flies out. I go out of my way to praise and in record time every single dog I have ever owned understands what I want. Funny, how no matter how hard I try I can't give up the "Spit" command, even thought I know how it must sound to others.
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