Sleeping With Dora

“The dogs with the loudest bark are the ones that are most afraid.” – Norman Reedus

My little friend Dora is a bit neurotic.  Actually, she is a lot neurotic.  Dora is a shelter dog and it's impossible to know what happened to her before she found her home with my friends Brian and Geraldine.  Whatever it was, it wasn't good.  She seems to suffer from a serious abandonment complex.  So when Brian and Geraldine asked me to look after her while they went on a nine day trip to Italy, I knew I would be in for a bumpy ride.

This is not the first time we've had Dora stay with us while they were away.  She spent a week here last year when they went to Hawaii.  And she has stayed here the odd night when their commitments took them out of town.  But I have a poor memory for pain and I had forgotten just how challenging it can be to look after her.  The hardest part is sleeping.  At home, Dora sleeps in bed with her humans.  But as Merv isn't about to share our bed with a dog, for nine nights I've been relegated to the guest room.  It's just as well.  There wasn't a lot of sleeping going on the first three nights. The first night, Dora was clamoring to be let out every hour.  I accomodated her several times in an attempt to avoid an accident in the house.  It turned out she didn't really need to go out.  She wanted to go out, attempting to pull me in the direction of her house each time I took her out.  Then there was the endless barking at every creak of the house and the crying, even in her sleep.  By night two I wouldn't get up.  It didn't stop the barking and crying but at least I wasn't in my pajamas on the front lawn in the middle of the night.  Day three was a tough day.  Dora's level of stress wreaked havoc on her intestines.  In spite of the fact that we walked for an hour and a half and I was never out of her sight when at home, Dora failed to alert me that she needed to go out.  Unbenownst to me, she left a gift on the rug at the garage door and Merv walked through it.  He wasn't very happy.  That accident provided a preview of the night to come.  We were outside every twenty minutes for much of the night.  At least I didn't have to wash the floor again.

By last night exhaustion had well and truly set in.  I took Dora out at eleven and decided to call it a night.  I don't know which of us was more tired.  She snored soundly throughout the night as, no doubt, did I.  When I got up at seven this morning she stayed in bed.  Here's to hoping tonight is as quiet.