Dognaps Here And There

Just past the witching hour last night I was awakened by a noise in our house--the kind of sound which immediately and fully wakes you because you sense something isn't normal.

To me, it resembled the lock popping and the front door opening downstairs, though what you think you hear in your sleep is often just a guess. Of course, our miniature "watch dog" was nowhere to be found.

So I sat up in bed. More rustling. Was our son coming home from college a day early this Labor Day weekend? Unlikely. Much too quiet for that. I rose and entered the upstairs hallway, quickly switching on the light there.

Peeking downstairs, I saw the front door closed. Whew! Then I heard more odd muffled noises. They were coming from our older son's bedroom down the hallway. Though he had long moved out, it was still a minefield of old clothes and sundry other items in there.

When I fully opened the door, I saw our little poodle mutt Doogie making himself comfortable among the empty video boxes and a comforter on the floor. He looked at me indifferently as if to say, "What!"

Why can't that dog pick a place to sleep and stick to it? He sleeps in our bed, under our bed, down the basement, on our younger son's bed, on the family room floor, and on and on, all in one day and night. Rattling around to make a nest in Greg's empty room was a first, however.

Doogie takes "Mi Casa Es Tu Casa" way too literally, especially for a dog. My wife Wendy said Doogie was excitedly prancing around her Lazy Boy recliner one day. Wasn't hungry. Didn't want to go out. So she motioned him to jump up and share her seat with him.

That settled him for a bit. Then he jumped back down, dancing again while appealing to Wendy with his big dark eyes. She realized Doogie wanted HER to leave so he lie down and stretch out on the Lazy Boy himself.

Maybe in his little way he's campaigning for a doggie bed for Christmas.