Sleep

When we brought Islay home, we knew that she needed a place to sleep, a place where she would be warm, safe, and within hearing should she become exceedingly distressed.

The guest bathroom on the ground floor seemed to be the best candidate - it's quite small, has a walk-in shower (for the puppy piddle pad, room for a bed under the sink, and with a dog gate, a few of the television set (my dogs have always seemed happier with some form of distraction, like a radio).

So, towards bed-time we put Islay in the guest/dog room, made sure she had fresh water, shut the door, and hoped for quiet.

And quiet is what we got. The next morning, Islay appeared ready for her post-dawn trip outdoors, and that has always been the case ever since. She did chew on one part of the door frame for a while, but soon other toys distracted her, and perhaps some boredom set in.

That was the pattern for the first couple of years, and then, for some reason, I decided I would like to have her sleep in the bedroom, and yes, that meant on the bed. Islay was happy doing that, and aside from the fact that in the summer with its early sunrises, she thought that dawn was a good time to start the day. Winter, with its seeming perpetual darkness wasn't a problem.

But what we discovered was that Islay would leave the bedroom and find a convenient place and turn it into a bathroom. The eventual solution to that was to put up a dog gate at the bedroom door and train her not to get up until I did.

I expect that training will take the rest of our lives, but things have gotten better - she and I are both more rested and agreeable, and I laugh heartily on the mornings when she decides to wake me by creeping up toward my head and then rolling her body and putting her head right next to my neck.

In the midst of winter, we keep each other warm (thus the phrase "three dog night), and I am convinced we are both grateful for the companionship.