Monday, March 4, 2013

Somebody's been sleeping in MY bed

We are a dogs on furniture household, that much is very apparent. Elka also sleeps with us, which is sometimes more pleasant than others.

She's also started a behavior that I had only heard about, never seen, until recently. Evidently, when I'm at work and if our room door is open, Elka will go upstairs and sleep on our bed. She doesn't mess with anything, trail clothes around, nothing. Just goes up and sleeps. She did this even before we got the new couches, which made sense because our bedroom is very warm, but with the new couches, she does it even when I'm here.

The first time, it was a little startling. I emerged from the shower. My fiancé and housemate were going about their business. No dog. "Where's Elka?" I asked, trying to play it cool, but seriously? Elka is never not there.

"Oh, she went upstairs," my fiancĂ© said. Oh.




Since then, I've watched Elka make her trek upstairs. She plays it cool, circulates around the downstairs a little bit first. Perhaps she's testing whether she's interested in her toys still, or if the bed's siren song is too much?


Whatever the case, there's the point at which her circuit takes her to the bottom of the stairs, and then, well, she might as well go up. She goes up slowly and quietly. Her tags don't even jingle. I don't know why this solo-bed-using seems illicit to her. As I've said, she's proven we can trust her up there. Nothing pulled out, chewed, whatever. 


She comes downstairs if you call her, but sometimes, even the sound of my getting tupperware out to put the leftovers away doesn't bring her down. This is normally a Sure Thing; I frequently give her the leftover veggies from dinner, you see, if there isn't a quantity such that it makes sense to save it.


Of course, I pretty frequently think it's weird my dog likes broccoli and green beans so much, so it's just as well.


When it times for me to come to bed, she welcomes me affably enough. We never have "bed wars", other than of the play sort. I tell her to move, she moves. Frequently, she stands and watches me lay down, so as to burrito under the blankets in the most thorough manner.


There are also worse things than having a prewarmed bed, especially in January!




21 comments:

  1. See...Elka is doing you a favor by pre-warming the bed. What a thoughtful pup.

    ReplyDelete
  2. My first Beagle mix, Oliver, went to bed at 10 PM; he would "woof" at me, hoping I would come but even if I didn't, he went on. Good Elka - taking care of Mom with that warm bed :).

    ReplyDelete
  3. hahaha elka as the carnivore hot water bottle ;o)

    ReplyDelete
  4. LOL our Golden used to take himself to bed about 8pm every night. Never fail. Of course it was his own bed on the floor. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Silas will do the same thing--sneak back upstairs to sleep. He will ONLY do it when we're not home, especially if we're gone a long time, and he will hop down and wait for me at the top of the stairs. Like, "What, Me? I wasn't in the bed!"

    So cute!

    ReplyDelete
  6. She just wants to have the whole bed to herself for a while!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Broccoli and green beans? If Kyuss ate any of that, we would have to wear gas masks to bed! LOL

    ReplyDelete
  8. She is pretty sure it's her bed, and she shares with you at night. LOL

    ReplyDelete
  9. My shelter Dobie, Emma does the same thing. If she isn't in the living room with me, she's in the bedroom on "her" bed. But then again, she's had a love affair with "her" bed since the day I brought her home. That first day, she didn't even finish her initial exploration of our home. It stopped in our bedroom. She walked in, saw the king-sized bed, looked at me for permission to be on the bed, then she hopped up and rolled around like she had found HEAVEN. She spent the rest of her first day on our bed. I had to force her off to go outside to "do her business", and as soon as she came back in, she went back to the bed. She didn't even want to eat.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Awww. This is so happy-making!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Sleeping with one big dog is no weirder than sleeping with four little ones.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Honey likes to be with us. But the minute I leave the house, she's up on the bed. It makes sense. It is the coziest spot in the house.

    See, Elka is a smart girl.

    ReplyDelete
  13. She knows comfort. Katy will go up on our bed when she's ready for bed and we are still up. It's funny because you will find Bailey on the couch or sleeping on the floor, but no Katy. Sure enough she's gone to bed.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Sounds a lot like our house! Bunny and Morgan would both sleep in our bed all day long if they could get away with it. I suspect that a lot of it is the smell that they like and it stimulates restfulness in them. Elka is adorable all curled up like a bug in a rug!

    ReplyDelete
  15. A natural bed warmer! Love it. I tell Sampson every night, "your job is to snug up as tight as you can against me to keep Mama warm, okay?" He's an obliging little lovebug too.

    Delilah is usually wherever I am, if she's not I begin to worry, but she does sometimes go in the bedroom by herself which just makes me a little nervous. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Elka is so funny - she must enjoy thinking she is "getting away with something" by slinking upstairs. :)

    ReplyDelete
  17. Elka are you related to us?
    Benny & Lily

    ReplyDelete
  18. Elka is no dummy. It is probably the most comfy place in the house. It IS perplexing why she thinks she has to sneak up there though.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Sometimes when my peep stays up late, I'll take myself to bed. For some strange reason I too do it slowly and quietly. It's nice having the whole bed to yourself! Right Elka?
    Maggie

    ReplyDelete
  20. What a lovely dog you have there! I have a dog too, and just like Elka, he loves to sleep on my bed as well. He probably loves the softness of the mattress. I mean, who doesn’t want a soft and comfortable mattress, right?

    Michael Green

    ReplyDelete