My Attempt to Secure the Dog-Free Zone

Forest doesn’t shed so he has free reign of most of house. He can play in every room and take a nap on any piece of furniture, but the bed Nick and I share is officially off limits. Although Forest hasn’t irritated Nick’s allergies, we thought it would be smart to have one place in the house that was dog-free, and what better place than the bed in which Nick spends 7+straight hours a day.

Our puppy has short, stubby legs and our bed has a thick mattress that raises it a tad, so we assumed Forest wouldn’t be able to jump on to it. A few months ago he attempted to get on the bed, but he didn’t estimate the distance correctly and awkwardly crashed into the side of it. Instead of yelling at him, I couldn’t help but just laugh. He’s a stubborn puppy though. A few weeks later he successfully made it onto the bed, but quickly jumped off after a barrage of shouts from his parents. Last week, I came out of the shower to find Forest curled up at the end of our bed. He just looked confused when I yelled at him, but quickly realized his mistake when Nick chimed in. We started to realize that no place in our home may be safe from the puppy.

Last night, Kansas City was struck by a vicious thunderstorm. Forest freaked out. He didn’t like the rolling thunder that shook our house or the bright flashes of lighting coming thru the windows. Nick is out of town on business this week, so unlike a previous storm encounter, the puppy didn’t have Daddy to run to. He followed me around most of the night, whimpering and jumping on my legs. At one point, I noticed that Forest had scampered off somewhere. I went looking for him, wondering where the puppy would seek comfort during a storm. I really should have known better.  I found Forest sprawled across our pillows on the bed. He definitely understood that he was being bad when I yelled at him and shamefully sulk off the bed.

A few hours later, I tried to go to sleep with what sounded like a hurricane raging outside my window.  Forest didn’t sleep. Instead he whimpered and stood on his hind legs at the side of the bed so his head was as close as possible to mine. Around 1 am, bad puppy breath woke me up. As soon as I lifted my head from my pillow, Forest sprung from the floor and landed at my side. I shouted, I cursed, I even tried shoving him away, but Forest refused to get off the bed. Part of me, the really tired part, tried to justify letting him sleep there. He would finally shut up, and I could always wash the sheets the following day before Nick got home. A loud clap of thunder woke me up a little more and l knew that it wouldn’t be fair to let him sleep on the bed for one night. He would assume sleeping on the bed was ok, and would probably get really confused when I yelled at him for getting on the bed the next night. I briefly considered locking Forest in his crate, but in the past even that hasn’t quieted him up when a thunderstorm was rolling through.

My sleep-depraved brain could only think of one other solution. I dragged my pillows into the guest room and slept on the futon with the puppy. I think it was a small victory in self-control, but also just feel like the damn dog has whipped me good.

My Attempt to Secure the Dog-Free Zone