Growing up, our two dogs Cracker and Carmel were not allowed to sleep in our beds, per my parents’ rules. They could sleep in our rooms, on the rugs… but not on the beds, getting everything dirty and full of dog hair. I always longed to have a dog curled up next to me, snuggling in bed, so as a little girl I vowed to allow dogs in my bed when I grew up and had my own place.
When I got Ryder as a 7-week-old puppy in 2002, I had her sleep in bed with me. She always wanted to sleep at the bottom of the bed next to my legs, often with her head on my feet. To this day she still does that, though sometimes she prefers the big comfy dog pillow on the floor next to the bed.
Jethro isn’t really a big bed-time snuggler. He likes to sleep next to me when I’m sitting on the couch and get his belly rubbed, and sometimes on weekend mornings when I sleep in he’ll come snuggle at my legs, but he really doesn’t like to fall asleep in bed with me and Brian. (He does, however, like to sleep on the bed when we’re not in it, so I guess he just likes it when he has more room to himself.)
And then there’s Tansy. She is what Brian and I call the Snuggle Monster. As the smallest of our 3 dogs (though at 68 lbs., she is not “small”), she will contort her body into any position for the best snuggle. And she LOVES snuggling in bed. Since she loves our bed so much, I always put a sheet over our comforter so she’s not getting dog hair and dirty paws on the sheets and pillowcases on which Brian and I sleep. But that doesn’t really work for Tansy. She is more interested in the comfort of the soft and fluffy pillows than anything else.
So though I cover the bed with a sheet for her…
I can always count on finding Tansy in the place where she’s most comfortable…
Yes, right on the pillows, and not even touching the sheet.
But instead of making her move, I just change the pillowcases every night. She’s our Snuggle Monster, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Tell me, am I the only person who goes out of the way to accommodate the dogs of the house?
