Settling in ……..
Is it Red Nose Day ?
Does my nose look big in this?
I think I’ll keep it on
Minnie was the cutest little puppy ever, she had a beautiful personality and she loved everybody.
Before her vaccinations had been completed, when we walked into town I carried her tucked inside my coat. She used to cry all the way there and all the way back. If people stopped to fuss her she would give them a full facial. She wasn’t prejudice, any face would do! Then when we started walking again, away she would start again!
When we were at home, if she wasn’t being played with, she wanted picking up constantly and her favourite place to sleep was tucked in the side of my husbands neck.
She was incredibly needy, we had to wear her like a scarf! We had never had a dog like it and as much as I loved her completely and utterly it drove me mad.
I couldn’t sew, eat, drink, go to the toilet or do absolutely anything without carrying her around with me.
We carried her up in the Lego tub into our bedroom at night as I couldn’t stand the thought of her being on her own in the dark.
She was such a good puppy she never once soiled her bed. She would cry during the night and I would place her on a puppy pad in the bathroom and she would squat to do what she needed to and after a cuddle she would go back to sleep.
But she was growing and I had to replace the Lego tub with a cage.
Now I absolutely hate dogs in cages. They are so readily available and very affordable that they are used a lot by some awful dog owners.
My friend worked for the RSPCA and the photographs I have witnessed have reduced me to tears at some of the conditions that some caged dogs are treated. I also had first hand experience as I had previously worked for an animal charity for many years and it broke my heart. But I had to put her in one because I couldn’t bring myself to leave her downstairs in case she needed to go out and I wouldn’t hear her and I couldn’t just let her wander around willy nilly!
So I purchased a cage, fitted it out with fleecy blanket one side, puppy pad the other & a small bowl of water. I made a lovely fleece cover for it so she wouldn’t get a draught where 3 sides were covered but the front was open so that she could see me and then placed it next to my side of the bed.
When we went to bed that night I cuddled her and then put her in the cage just as I would have put her in the Lego tub. I lay down facing her and she was just sitting in front of the bars and looking at me through the little squares. I couldn’t stand it! I think she thought she was back at the kennels. She never moved, didn’t make a sound, just sat staring at me. My heart was breaking, tears rolling down my face, I opened the cage lifted her out and cuddled her and we both went to sleep.
My husband didn’t know she was in bed with us because he’s one of the lucky ones who place their head on a pillow and completely zonk out. He’s usually purring within the first five minutes!
When she woke me in the night licking my eye sockets to use her puppy pad I took her to her toilet and thought ‘what the heck’ and got back into bed with her.
That was the end of the cage! She wasn’t even it for 10 minutes. I folded it up, luckily it was collapsible and put it away somewhere where I didn’t have to see it!
Luckily our bed is a superking size and it takes 3 regular size pillows across the width so the middle one became Minnie’s.
Of course this wasn’t helping her neediness, it was making it worse. What she needed was a sister, a playmate, what I needed to do now was convince my other half. That was going to be a mammoth task, but I’m always up for a challenge!
P.S THIS IS WHY I COULDN’T LEAVE HER IN THE CAGE.
