April 26th, 2011
Out of the Kennel and onto the Bed
Ash and Mal are three years old today, and we’ve been trying to figure out how their crates fit into our lives for a little while. We never kennel them during the day, but their kennels have been their over night spaces since they were puppies. Jesse works outside the province for one week a month, so last month when he was traveling I decided to see how an overnight without the kennels would go.
I thought the best case scenario would be a night of uninterrupted sleep, and the worst case scenario would be Ash becoming nocturnal and barking at anything that moves over night. The first night went beautifully, and I was so proud of myself for taking the first step! That is until I got up, brushed my teeth, and came back into the bedroom to discover Mal, staring straight at me, peeing on my bed.
Not his bed. My bed.
I had no words, so I shrieked.
Fortunately for Mal, nothing was ruined and after a quick trip to the cleaners I was hell bent on making it work. In a few days when Jesse came home I wanted this series of events to be a hilarious anecdote that ended in overnights without issues, not a harbinger of doom. I tried leaving them un-crated again, only this time I walked Mal again immediately before we went to sleep and set the alarm a little earlier and – thank goodness – it worked like a charm!
In the past few weeks of sleeping outside his kennel, Mal has become a total cuddle monster. He wiggles up as close as he can to Jesse and I all night, and in the morning he crawls up to snuggle me and burrow his head under my pillow!
It’s the cutest thing, and has made waking up a really sweet experience. Mal’s become even less of a dog, and even more of a living teddy bear than he was before. If I’d known that taking the kennels out to the equation would have made him a cuddle monster I’d had done this a year ago!
Happy birthday to Ash + Mal – my favourite little monsters! <3
as i read through some of your replies to comments, i was cracking up – your two fur babies sound so similar to mine :) my mia is about 1.5 yrs old & vito is about 2.5 yrs old. and they are SO full of energy. our two sleep with us at night too – and mia does have the occasional accident (although it really isn’t her fault – she will pee while she is asleep without knowing it due to some bladder issues, poor thing). there is nothing more wonderful than waking up to cuddling puppies.
Happy birthday to your wee monsterpups :)
Iggy cuddles with me every night (and every morning), and on the nights when I’m not sleeping with him curled up behind the small of my back, or against my knee, or even right up next to my face (ha!), I just don’t sleep as well. So incredible (and pretty awesome) how precious these pups become to all of us.
When Face was little, I had the same experience. We ditched his crate at night almost immediately, and had a very tall bed (well, a very tall bed for a 6 inch tall puppy?) and he couldn’t jump off it without assistance. One night he woke up and had to go, and clearly, I didn’t wake up… and when I did wake up and streeeeetched out my feet, I realized my entire foot area was cold and… wet. Sweet, sweet goodness. ;-)
But I’m with you — one of my favorite Saturday morning rituals is the fact that after Sean feeds them breakfast (we split meal times) because he gets up at like zero o’clock in the morning, the puppies come crawl back into bed and we spoooooooon until I get up at 8:30 lol. Its. the. best.
This is too cute for words! I’m so glad it worked out for the best. Happy birthdays to your babies!
And btw, I don’t think I will ever forget the treadmill post! =)
One my of my huskymutts peed in the bed a few times, but we never caught her doing it. It was only a few times, but it was awful to sit on the bed and find there’s a wet spot…
Congrats on having snuggling doggies! They’re the best!
I love love love that your dog is named after Captain Malcom Reynolds. We all can learn a little about being human from him!
What cute photos! Our pups were crated when they were younger, but after a several months, we weened them out of the crates by closing all of the doors to other rooms so they couldn’t be sneaky in the night. They were chewers. Then we gated off the down stairs so they had limited space to roam. Now, they are trusted pups and know the house rules :) Good luck!
Such cute pics!! And happy birthday to your two pups. My dog Millie turned TEN on Monday. I can’t believe she’s that old. She’s still spunky though! :)
Oh my god I could die he’s so cute!
Omigoodness Kyla this story is too adorable!!
No pups for us, but Webster sleeps in our bed (usually curled up on our pillows/around our heads) every night and I love it. It’s so nice having a little furball to cuddle with :) When we do get a dog (hopefully next year!) I think we would crate train it and then once it’s a bit older experiment with letting it sleep in the bed/at the end of the bed with us!
How cute is Mal? I’m glad that forgoing the crate has been a good transition (minus the bed wetting incident). Sandy has always had free reign of the house. Her favorite place to sleep is my bed and sometimes I have to literally pull her out of the bed when I’m ready to get in.
Mal is so cute! It would drive me nuts to get woken up that early in the morning, though! I used to have a Bichon named Spike, and he slept on my bed – but he would literally sleep all day if I did! If I slept until noon, he was snoring right there with me, haha.
The Chihuahuas sleep with us at night and stay in their kennel during the day. That works just fine. Kale stays in his kennel during the day AND sleeps in it. We’ve tried letting him sleep in the bedroom with us at night, but he’s too anxious, he doesn’t know what to do and we just don’t have the patience to try again. He doesn’t mind his kennel, he knows it’s his safe place. And the Chihuahuas have peed (or worse) on the bed more times than I’d like to admit. Knock-on-wood it hasn’t happened in a while.
Oh my word, I could not say no to those dogs w/ cute faces like they have! Happy birthday to Mal & Ash!
Well happiest birthday wishes to your little monsters. Mal is so adorable snuggled like that. What a relief it must be to have them behaving wonderfully crate-free at night after only a single (if not so tiny) mishap.
We’ve actually never crated Dutch, but he came to us as a housetrained 7-year-old. With my other dog, we did at the beginning until she was “trained” enough to not tear up the house at 3 in the morning. ;) Case in point, a beloved doll of mine who has no toes at all, thanks to that dog. As a ten-year-old, waking up to your new puppy gnawing on the feet of your favorite doll is NOT for the faint of heart! ;)
Dutch, though, sleeps with me every night and burrows under the covers. It freaked me out at first, thinking he would suffocate himself but he’s always fine. Just enjoys being under the covers! :)
Burrowing is a Chihuahua trait. My boys aren’t happy at night unless they’re snuggled under the covers, usually between our legs. And most of the time, you can find them somewhere in the house snuggled under a blankie. They’re the cutest little snuggle bugs!
That is so precious (except the peeing part). I miss sleeping with my cats. Living teddy bears are the best. :)
Oh no! Haha – that’s hilarious. I would have panicked.
Last week I let Tobias sleep with me through the night. I woke up around 4 in the morning to an odd sensation. ((I can’t believe I’m going to type this for you to read…)) He had buried himself between my legs and was licking away. O_O I freaked and started hitting Jeremy of the back “GET YOUR DOG OUT OF HERE.” I love how Toby is always “Jeremy’s dog” when he is in trouble. ;)
The Chihuahuas sleep with us every night and usually between our legs. Thank goodness THAT has never happened though, haha. I would have died! :)
Can’t believe he peed in your bed! I actually locked my cat out of the room last night because he consistently wakes me up 5am trying to jump into the window behind my headboard. When I woke up, he’d vomited in the kitchen, I suspect as an act of anger. Blurgh!
PS: Is there anything cuter than the Mal Maki?!
he looks so snug and happy in that bedroll!
we have two large dogs, and the 75lb one would LOVE to bed snuggle with us. but honestly, i don’t think i could handle the snores or the puppy breath!
Happy Birthday to your “little monsters”.. glad the un-kenneling turned out to be such a positive thing. Having those little cuddle monsters in your bed must be so much fun ;)
Those pictures are incredibly cute! I’m glad I’m not the only one who lets her dogs sleep with her at night. Mine don’t always want to, but when they do it’s so special. Sometimes Cleo even gets under the covers with me. :)
Your dogs are seriously adorable. That first picture?! HAHA, so cute!! My dog is a huge cuddle monster too, and no doubt he’d love it if I let him sleep in the bed with me, but I’m not a huge fan of having animals in my bed (I think I just take up too much space!)
Oh man, I can’t believe he peed on your bed! Do both of them sleep in bed with you guys? How do you have room!
lol It was one of those moments where you’re shouting “Nooooo!” in slow motion ;)
Mal is the only one who sleeps on the bed with us, and Ash (so independent lol) just joins in for the morning cuddle- they’re pretty little though, it’s a bit like having two toddlers curled up with us :)
Jack loves his bed at the foot of my bed BUT he will jump up to be with me starting around 5 am. I love those cuddles with him; they are so sweet and special. Sometimes he’ll help himself to a pillow of mine which cracks me up. If Knight is around, he tries to nestle on either side of us, or at the foot of the bed, just to be close I guess.
Happy birthday to the pups!
ADORABLE! Our pup sleeps in our bed with us, but it’s an annoyance as he weighs over 100lbs and takes up more of the bed than us! But he sure does get me up in the morning to go pee! He once peed RIGHT beside my bed while I was still sleeping, so I’ve learned since then! ;)
Oh my goodness, what a little love bug!!
So adorable! I’m with Kat, would love to know what breed they are. I really want another big dog (my favorite type!), but living in NYC = a need for small dogs. But, I don’t want a purse pooch.
Thanks! They’re called Schipperkes, but I really (no, seriously) don’t recommend you get one unless you’re extremely active. We walk them for 45 minutes a day, and sometimes that’s not enough for them. They’re amazing personalities and the sweetest guys, but I’m a pretty laid back person and without Jesse to help them get the exercise they need it would be a bit of a zoo over here :)
Ooo, glad you mentioned that. Having had a golden retriever for the majority of my life (and also, a huge backyard with a forest beyond in the semi-countryside), I know that it’s a lot easier to have an active dog when (1) you’re not working at a corporate job (sigh, I was in school) and (2) when you have space (not likely in my 400 sq ft NYC apartment, double sigh). Will have to save the sweet Schipperkes for another chapter and get my dose of them from you! :)
When I read that I gasped and covered my mouth – what a way to start the morning! So glad you were able to work it out! Does Ash like roaming free at night or not really? Happy birthday to your adorable puppies!
Ash doesn’t roam at all during the night, he just curls up in my craft room and we don’t hear from him for the rest of the night! Thank goodness :)
Ohhhhhhhhh!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY CUTIES!!!
I have to giggle at the pictures, because from that angle he reminds me of a cute little seal!
Our two cats are so different from each other. Wedge is very antisocial and won’t cuddle AT ALL. If you even try, he gets horribly uncomfortable. We’re trying to teach him it’s okay to be loved on and taken care of. Oddly enough, we have no idea how or why he’s like this, as he’s been a pampered cat since we got him when he was only a few months old.
Mau, on the other hand, was a shelter cat. So he is full of love and cuddling and will try and be close to us at night – especially when the lights go out. He also wakes me up by *chewing on my hair.* It’s annoying to wake up too, but cute once I’m more awake and can pet him in the morning when he’s not being a hellion.
Our Bailey will be 2 in June, and we’ve been throwing this idea around. He’s the same, in that his crate is only used at night for bedtime. Our only worry is that he will wake us up super early in the morning. He still tends to start whining at 630 on weekends when we’re trying to sleep in. Maybe it’s still a little early for him!
Your dogs are so beautiful! I remember training mine. We had a few accidents, but luckily none on the bed!
Both of my dogs sleep in the bed. They were crated as puppies. Sometimes I don’t get a good sleep, because they move around, switching between my belly and the bf’s belly to curl up to. They also get up at 5 am now to be fed! I somehow can’t stop this trend. Oh yes, my weaner dog has a pee issue. It’s actually her bladder and she’s on meds now, but there were times when I would wake up soaked in urine. But I couldn’t scold her because she was peeing in her sleep and didn’t know. Apparently spayed females can have incontinence issues as they age. Anyway, it’s been a few months since the peeing.
good luck!
Aw, yea I’ve heard that about old girl dogs too- poor things!
Ash bounds in at 6 AM and jumps on us too. I’m sure there’s something, like maybe a noise outside, that happens around that time that he’s associated with ‘wake up time’… maybe a white noise machine would help? ;)
I love your puppies. (Okay, I know they’re three, but I still like to call them puppies because they’re so cute!)
We’ve been thinking of getting a dog, but we’re so busy with school and work right now that I’m not sure it would work. Plus, with having two cats, we’d really have to make sure they got along. I’m hoping we can get one someday, though!
I can’t believe Mal peed in your bed! That’s so gross/funny. Good for you for trusting them again!
I’m sure you mentioned this before but- what breed are Ash and Mal? I am usually a fan of large dogs but your two “little monsters” (aww!) are so handsome and adorable! That last picture is the essence of puppy eyes, I think, yes? :)
I’m glad un-crating them turned out to be such a great experience in the end! Happy birthday to them! :)
They’re called Schipperkes- they’re super high energy and curious :)
Really wonderful, but not for the faint of heart!