Rise and Shine

OK, so it may have been my own fault that I was too tired to do much of anything yesterday but sit around and drink coffee. I admit I stayed up too late the night before, but I had a good excuse, at least for part of the time. Remember I'm a hockey fan and Wednesday night was the first game in the Stanley Cup finals. It went into triple overtime.

That meant that we sat up till the wee hours watching dueling goal tenders make amazing saves.

Between the end of regular play and the first overtime I gave everyone their yogurt, sent them outside for last call and put the girls and Mac into their crates with goodnite cookies.

The game finally came to an end and I can only imagine how tired those players were. I was pretty tired just watching. I called  Morgan, the boys and Sydney and we headed for bed.

But that wasn't the end of the night for me. Oh no!

When you have a large pack of dogs you must master many jobs. You learn to cook healthy meals and treats and to read ingredients from processed dog foods and treats. You learn to recognize and treat various injuries and illnesses. You learn to recognize which ones need professional treatment. You learn the signs and symptoms of illnesses you never heard of before and can barely spell and how to deal with them. You learn the basics of grooming and how to bathe an uncooperative dog. You learn about types of collars and harnesses and which ones work in which situations. You learn about training and you learn to soothe and comfort dogs who need special attention.

Sometimes you learn to be a traffic cop. Take Wednesday night or Thursday morning for example. We humans were tired and wanted to go to sleep. The dogs had skipped most of the game and had been napping for hours. When we entered the bedroom they all went to their sleep spots. I got in bed and turned off the light. Then Morgan decided she needed a drink of water. I keep a bowl of water in the bathroom so she went in and had her drink. The problem started when she headed back to her bed.

Sebastian had moved and was blocking her way from the bathroom back into the bedroom. She can't jump over him and didn't want to step on him, so she stood in the doorway barking till I got up and asked Sebastian to move. He did and she walked back to her bed. I got back in bed.

Miss Sydney had gotten out of her chair and come to see what Morgan was barking at. When she got up, Noah climbed into her chair so when she went back her place was occupied. She started whining.

I got up again and moved Noah to his pillow where he usually sleeps. Then Sydney was able to get back into her spot. I went back to bed.

Then Noah growled because Sebastian was still wandering around looking for a place to sleep. I got up and found a good place for Sebastian. He likes to sleep with his head hidden so I found a place where he could get his head behind a table and he settled down with a sigh.

I went back to bed only to find Fudge sleeping contentedly in my place with his big head on my pillow. I was tempted to just walk back downstairs and sleep on the couch but instead I sent Fudge to the foot of the bed where he curled up on my feet and we all went to sleep.

Morning came much too early when the girls who had all had a good night's sleep woke up ready to eat and play. Ok, I'm rested and ready for game two on Saturday. Go Bruins!