3:14am. I get up to use the bathroom, careful not to wake anyone. Then, I hear the jingling collar as my pup gets up to see what I am doing. Then, I hear her sniffing at the bathroom door because she can't stand not knowing where I am or what I'm up to.
It's part of her ocd. She has to know where things are at all times. If anything is different, she has to investigate it. It's kind of cute. Until she decides that the new item, whether it be food or not, is edible and decides to eat it. This is why we can't have boxes of tissues just lying around the house. Since it isn't a regular coffee table item, it gets investigated, which means destroyed and partially eaten. Our decor will never change for the same reason. It's too risky.
So, she's sniffing at the bathroom door...waiting. When I come out, she trots over to the back door. Her way of saying she needs to go outside. It's 3:14am, but okay. We'll go.
In my mind, because it's 3:14am, this should be a quick, business only outing. Apparently not. In her mind, it's a perfect time to make her rounds in the yard. She has to investigate outside too, sniffing all her usual spots until she is assured that all is well.
I allow some time for this, but by 3:25am, I'm ready to end the outing.
Have you ever tried to call a partially deaf dog back into the house? It's interesting. Especially at 3:25am when you are trying not to wake the neighbors.
First, you try calling her name. This rarely works. Partially because of the deafness and partially because she's stubborn.
When the name calling fails, you have to make a noise loud enough to get her attention. And loud enough that when she hears it, she knows it's coming from you. Sometimes it's cute when she misinterprets sounds and starts looking around in the opposite direction for whoever is clapping at her from the shed. Not so cute at 3:25am.
When you finally do get her attention, you then have to make eye contact so you can give her a visual cue that it's time to come inside.
Then you just have to wait until she's good and ready to come inside. You can keep repeating the steps, but it's only going to end with you getting angry. Until you see her cute little face bouncing across the yard on her way in. It's impossible to stay angry at that little face. Even at 3:25am.
Once our little outing is over, I try to snuggle back into bed and resume my state of coziness, to no avail. Someone is snoring up a storm. It can't be my betrothed because he doesn't snore. Can't imagine who else it would be.
So, I'm in here. Blogging in the dark.
Wonder what's on tv. And if there's any apple pie left in the fridge.