It's A Dog's Life....

Our two dogs normally have a routine first thing in the morning. Gizmo, my little Rat Terrier, gets out of his bed at first light, jumps up on our bed and lays down beside me until I get up. Allie, Arden's Rottweiler, sleeps in her spot on the bed. It often seems her spot is wherever she wants to be, but mostly she lies on the left corner of the bed near Arden's feet. (This has been her spot for a number of years - long before Arden and I got together.) It works out OK.

Both dogs wait for us to get up and they follow us out to the kitchen where we have our coffee and they go outside for the first time of the day. They come back in ready for breakfast, often inquiring (in their own doggie way) why their breakfast isn't ready for them. They eat and go back outside for a while, then get their chew toys/treats and settle down for their naps. Gizmo has a second bed in the living area of the house and Allie has her favorite rug. (We bought Allie a nice, big dog bed but she refuses to use it.)

Lately, since the weather has changed and it's cold outside, their routine has changed a bit. Allie still sleeps on the bed and Gizmo still sleeps in his own bed - most of the time, anyway. Sometimes he joins me earlier - probably because he's cold. (Gizmo has color dilution alopecia - an inherited condition normally found in blue or fawn colored dogs - that causes hair loss. He's mostly naked.) He gets cold easily.

The big change is that these days when Arden and I get up and go to the kitchen, the dogs both stay on the bed until they're ready to join us. Sometimes it's half an hour before they decide it's time to get up. Once they do the routine settles back into its normal pattern - outside, breakfast, outside, chew toys, naps. Gizmo occasionally goes to the door, feels the cold air coming in and looks at me with eyes that say "I ain't going out there." So I put his little hoodie on him and make him go anyway. He hates the hoodie but it keeps him warm and he's able to stay out longer.

Yeah - our dogs have tough lives. They sleep when and where they want, tell us when they're hungry or want to go outside, get treats several times a day and bark at our neighbors and their dogs when they walk by on the street. Life is hard for a dog. Just look at Gizmo's face...