Phoebe: Bedtime Blues

Phoebe has slept on our bed for 3 of the 4 years we've had her.  A couple years ago we even upgraded to a King bed to make everyone more comfortable (she is massive and takes up a huge amount of space).  But for the last 3 weeks, I've made her sleep on a dog bed about 2 feet away from me instead.  I thought life might be better if we didn't sleep with dog hair and paw prints, and if I didn't have to wash the sheets every 3 days, and if we never woke up with Phoebe-induced cricks in our neck and back.  So, I separated our pack.

Of course, Phoebe was not pleased.  For the first 2 weeks she whimpered, and begged, and pleaded for us to let her back on the bed.  But I stayed firm (just barely) and never gave the command to join us.  What I didn't realize though, was how sad it would be when she finally stopped asking.  

For the last week she's come by my side to give me a quick kiss, given us a long and wistful (but silent) look before going into her corner and falling asleep by herself.  And for whatever reason this has made me incredibly sad.  I thought about how she follows me from room to room all day everyday, how fiercely protective she is of me, how excited she gets when we come home, and how she still says goodnight even though I make her sleep alone on the floor.  And then I thought about how I kicked her off the bed just because I want to reduce the laundry load.  It broke my bleeding (and selfish) heart.  The hairless bed is truly wonderful, but it isn't better than my 90lb baby.

So she's back in the bed...and we're cool with it.

Bliss