Mika
is allowed on furniture, including my bed, but not at night. She wasn’t very
happy about this when she first found this out. She also doesn’t have a dog bed
because she destroys them. I gave her a nice big blanket to nest in on the
floor next to my bed instead.
Mika didn’t think the blanket was as comfortable as I did.
She’d pace the room, dig on the carpet, and try to sneak onto my bed. One time
she even attempted to sleep in Sammy’s little dog bed. A fifty-five pound dog
trying to squeeze into a ten pound dog’s bed was hilarious for me. Not so much
for her*.
When
Mika had exhausted all other ploys, she would stand near the head of my bed and
shake herself to wake me up. Then she’d just look at me with her big brown eyes
and a soulful, pleading expression. I have to admit, I was tempted, but I
stayed strong. Her begging didn’t work.
And so it went, her pacing and inching closer and closer
to my bed, me constantly shouting, “Get off!” or hissing, “Don’t even think
about it!” No one was getting much sleep.
Until
one day I saw her lay down in my laundry basket. I immediately kicked her out,
since the clothes in it were clean, but it gave me an idea. I took a larger
laundry basket and filled it with her blanket. That night we tried it. Mika was
not interested.
“Fine,” I said, “Have it your way.” Exhausted and at the
end of my patience, I switched her blankets to original laundry basket, now
devoid of clean clothes. Mika got right in and settled down**.
“What
a diva,” I muttered as I climbed into bed and pulled the covers up. I was finally,
going to get a good night’s sleep. Just as my head hit the pillow, I heard
snoring coming from the laundry basket…
*See Figure 1
**See Figures 2, 3, and
4
