Doodle-Free Zone

B officially declared this a "dog-free" bed week.  What he fails to understand is that those furry bodies are my heating blankets at night when he is on the road!  It does, however, become slightly crowded with 2 adults and 1 dog (let alone 2!) in a queen size bed.  We have tried this numerous times since Oscar's arrival.  Each effort ended in a monumental fail.  Oscar would cry and howl loudly and pee on the floor repeatedly until we caved and let him in the bed.  If we were in a house instead of an apartment, I might have considered letting him cry it out but only when B was there.

Nugget has never expressed much interest in being a bed-dog.  Usually, he prefers the floor over the bed, especially in the hot summer months.  When he is in the bed though, he at least quadruples in size and weight as I find myself curled up in a small corner of the mattress, unable to move his big butt to make more room for myself.  Occasionally, bedtime is quite the ordeal.

I was skeptical that this attempt would be much different from our previous attempts to break Oscar's bed habit.  The glimmer of hope rested in the fact that he is completely potty-trained and has been accident-free for several weeks.  At the very least, I wouldn't be blotting pee puddles from my bedroom carpet, I hoped.

We returned to Charlotte from our holiday endeavors on Tuesday night rather exhausted.  I was not in the mood to fuss with the dogs at all!  Yet B insisted we put up the gate preventing either of them from jumping into the bed.  Both dogs had a Bully stick (a beef rawhide chew they got for Christmas, which I highly recommend!) on the floor beside the bed along with their "night-night babies" (read: Oscar's ratty old stuffed cat and the new stuffed dogs they each got from my mom for Christmas).  As I fell asleep, Oscar was quietly chewing his Bully stick and Nugget was already snoring right beside him.  I awoke at 3am to find Oscar still chewing on the Bully stick.  He hadn't made so much as a peep, let alone cry or howl for his spot on the bed.

I have no idea what time he finally went to sleep, if in fact he slept at all.  Nugget was the first to "will" us awake with his hungry golden retriever eyes glaring at us from across the room.  The day progressed as normal from there.

Night 2 of the mission to break the doodle of his bed habit was also a smashing success.  He whined briefly, pretended to be mad by laying by the door where we couldn't see him and finally settled in alongside Nugget on the floor for a very peaceful night.  Oscar was the one who woke us this morning - an entire hour later than he normally gets up!  While I didn't sleep well at all, (I blame the doodle and golden nighttime snuggle withdraws) everyone else slept very well.  Now that I know Oscar can sleep on the floor without issue, he will certainly be back in the bed with me next week while B is gone for work!