Pearls of Wisdom and Foolish Mutterings

Dueling Poodles

Wow! I gave Maverik the Wonder Lab a gigantic chew bone over three hours ago and he has not stopped chewing on it once! I don't know how he feels, but I'm exhausted just listening to him chew on that thing. When I first gave it to him, he took it in his mouth, looked up at me as I was getting a bagel and promptly spit the bone out so he could stare longingly at my bagel.

I told Charles that I bet if I picked up that bone and started chewing on it, he'd want it then (Maverik, not Charles.) Then I decided to test my theory. I picked up the chew bone, started pretending I was eating it and started to walk off. Maverik jumped up, ran to me and started leaping up in the air to get the bone. So predictable. And he hasn't given it a rest even once since then.

I'm going to have to wrestle him for it in a few minutes when I go to bed. Otherwise I'll be up all night listening to him chase that thing all over the living room while he's chewing on it. I think he's going to have sore jaws in the morning. Seriously, how could he not, after 3+ hours of solid chewing?

I'll give him this - he's committed. I've never seen anything hold his attention like that bone has. He's so funny using those big old bear-claw paws of his to hold the thing while he chews on it. He should sleep good tonight!

I felt sorry for Maverik last night. He followed me into my bedroom when I went to bed. He found a spot on the floor and made himself comfortable and then Charles came in to go to bed. He made Maverik get up and go out of the room. Maverik looked all sad and forlorn, he got up and walked out like he was walking the plank. When Charles shut the door, he said, "I would let him sleep in here but I'm afraid he'll jump up on the bed and crush one of us!"

Which reminded me... a couple of years ago, Charles was out of town and I spent the night with a friend who was house-sitting for her aunt at this hoity-toity condo in Midtown. The aunt had two poodles - not the little ones, either. They were the medium-size poodles and they fought with each other all night long. Candace and I were sharing the only bed - a big king-sized number, which should have been plenty big, except for those two stupid dogs who kept jumping up and down, on and off the bed, fighting and growling. Finally after about an hour or so, Candace threw both dogs off the bed and they settled down. I fell into a deep exhausted sleep right away. I was laying on my back, dreaming away, when I heard one of the dogs start to growl. It just blended in with my dream and I faded away again. So then I was dreaming about a dog growling and HOLY CRAP! One of those stupid dogs jumped right in the middle of my chest, growling and snarling at the other stupid dog who was standing in the middle of the bed in guard dog stance. My eyes flew open, my heart was racing and I turned my head just in time to see the two stupidest dogs in the world lay into each for all they were worth right there in the middle of that king-sized bed with me on one side and Candace on the other, both of us yanked out of sleep, trying to get our bearings and these two idiot dogs trying to kill each other between us. At that point, I would have been perfectly happy if they had been successful and had just killed each other off, before I had the chance to do it. But Candace beat me to the punch; only she didn't kill them, she grabbed them up and put one of them in the bathroom and the other in the office. Hmmmm, I wonder why she didn't do that to begin with?

Yeah, it wasn't the best time I've ever had. I woke up with a killer headache the next morning and all I wanted to do was hightail it out of there and never look back. Let me tell you, you've never had a bad night's sleep until you've had a growling, snarling poodle land on your chest in the middle of the night. I'm pretty sure it took years off my life.

So, with that fond remembrance, I didn't argue for Maverik to stay in our bedroom and sleep. Eli will be home tomorrow and Maverik will have his sleeping buddy back. I think he'll make it until then.

Maverik just spit the chew bone out and went in the kitchen to drink up all the water in his bowl. Now's my chance to grab that bone and hide it. I believe I'll do just that and head off to bed myself .

Good night, sleep well and may your sleep be poodle-free!