It's OK.....it's an XL crate!

Remington is a terrible sleeper. In his opinion, he has way too much to do to waste time doing something as silly and mundane as sleeping...especially at night. Big brother, Rufus wasn't a great sleeper either so I'm kind of thinking it may be me who is creating these little sleepless monsters..uh darlings. Remington goes to bed with no fuss at about 11 p.m.  We have a routine...it's the same routine Rufus has had for almost two years. They go out at about 11 and while they are doing whatever they need to do, I grab two previously loved bones that have been stripped clean by Jaws and Baby Jaws. I smear a little bit of all natural peanut butter (no additives for these boys...natural all the way) in them and stuff one of their wheat free, preservative free, fat free..probably taste free cookies in each one. Once the bones are ready, I let the boys in. Rufus bounds in and heads straight upstairs to the bedroom and waits on his blanket. Remy still isn't 100% sure of the routine so he jumps around in front of me..runs part way up the stairs, comes back down, jumps around again...runs back upstairs and waits at the top of the stairs. Then as I get close to the top of the stairs, he lunges at me, flips backwards bouncing off the bookcase and runs into the crate that sits at the bottom of our bed. There he sits...smiling with anticipation at the tasty morsel he is about to receive. Both boys lick the bones clean and eat the cookie inside and then settle down for the night. See...that part is easy. It's two hours later when Remy wakes up and starts pawing at the crate door and whining that things get difficult. I get up, take him out and he pees...then runs back in and goes back in the crate with no fuss. An hour later, we're back up and we repeat the exercise...then we do it again, two hours later, we're back at it. I've tried to tell him to shush and go back to sleep but he persists and I think, :what if he truly does have to go? Could I hold it"?? I think not..especially since that last baby elephant I gave birth to kicked the life out of my bladder! So I get up with him. Some nights it's once or twice, some nights it's four times! I have tried cutting his water off after 7 p.m....he started drinking out of puddles when we were outside. The sight of my poor little dog drinking out of puddles to stay hydrated was too much for me....I caved and gave him water. So this has been my life for two months now...this waking up every hour or two for nocturnal trips outside.  I could do this when I was younger. I could function with little or no sleep. Now.... I need sleep..I crave sleep...I MUST have sleep! This is why last night I surrendered...I gave in...the thirty pound bundle of fluff won! We did the usual routine but instead of closing the crate door, I left it open. I told Remy I trusted him to wake me up if he had to go out..I begged him not to pee on the relatively new carpet and I prayed he would sleep. The bones were finished by 11:05. At 11:06, Rufus assumed his usual position lying on my feet across the bottom of the bed. At 11:07 Remy jumped up at the side of the bed and squirmed and wriggled his way up onto the bed. At 11:08, both boys were sound asleep. They stayed that way..all night. At 5:15 a.m. I woke up to Rufus once again cutting off the circulation to my legs. Momentarily believing I was paralyzed because I couldn't feel my legs, I struggled to sit up and focus my eyes in the dark. When I was finally able focus, the first thing I saw was Remy, still passed out..snoring. Eureka! It worked..I have discovered the cure for my sleepless nights. Now there is just one little problem...Steve! When he comes home from his business trip tonight, I'll have to break the news that Remy is now sleeping in his spot in the bed. I'm sure he'll understand. He has two options...he can either fight for a spot in the bed, or give up and sleep in the crate. It's a nice big crate and the fluffy blanket is really soft and comfortable..he'll be fine!

**Update** After just one night of fighting for space in the bed, Steve decided we needed a king sized bed. A brand new top o' the line beauty arrives in two weeks. Steve thinks this will give him more room, my bet is the boys will just stretch out and take up more space ;)

Have a good weekend, friends and thank you for spreading the word about my blog. It's exciting to see more and more people stopping by, thanks to you! Be happy.