OK, this was funny. To give you a little back story, my dog has always had this weird fascination with garages. Not just mine, my sister's too, when he stays with her. He just loves them. When he's in the house, sometimes he'll just trot back there and wait for me to let him in, just so he can poke around back there for a while. I started putting him to bed there when the weather got cold because he had a cushion in there and the cold hurt his hip, and a lot of times he'd just go back there on his own when he got bored or wanted to take a nap (because he had given up on trying to talk me into taking him for a walk or whatever). So if I left the door open, he'd usually just go back there on his own. In fact, he seemed to even prefer it to sleeping in the living room!
So our bedtime ritual is this: I put him outside for one last trip to the doggie restroom while I brush my teeth and get ready for bed or whatever. When he's ready to come back in, he starts his "woe is me I've been abandoned in the yard" bark. So I let him in before one of the neighbors decides to kill him, i tell him it's time for bed and we go to the garage where I shut him in for the night.
OK, so anyway, the dynamic has now shifted. Maybe he's just finally figured out that the living room cushion is just as comfortable or something, but he's sleeping more in here now while I'm up and around. But here's the weird part - the last couple of nights when I've gone to put him to bed, he's been kind of hesitant. So this is what's happened the last two nights: I put him outside as usual, he starts crying as usual, and I let him in. We go into the living room and I tell him it's time for bed, and he kind of pauses in the living room for a while and just looks at me. I ask him if he wants to go in the garage (he knows that word, btw) and he kinda tentatively coming to me, and we go out there. I open the door and he goes in but I can tell he's not really happy about it. Normally he just goes in and walks around or settles in, but this time he just stops in the doorway and gives me this pathetic look. And then he kinda skulks back past me into the house - that walk that says "OK, maybe if I'm pathetic-looking enough, he won't tell me to go back." And here's the funny part: he heads straight for the back door again which means he wants to be put back in the yard! Now bear in mind, it's pretty freaking cold out there right now, and he was begging to be let in NOT TWO MINUTES AGO!!!! So I put him out and I NEVER HEAR A PEEP OUT OF HIM THE REST OF THE NIGHT!!!! What's up with that????
I guess he's finally figured out the concept of bedtime and the idea that 1. he wants to sleep outside rather than be enclosed, and 2. once it's time for bed and he picks a spot, there's no point in complaining about it.
Anyway, this is probably only weird to me, but I just found it funny.
Posted by Paul
at 8:30 AM CST
