The Art Of Sleep



German Shorthair-Caelan

 As a life long insomniac I have spent a great deal of time observing how others sleep, the dogs are no exception. They are similar to people in their likes and dislikes. Enjoying to go to bed with the chickens or taking on qualities of the genuine night owl. Caelan, especially in the winter, loves to get his snooze on. He goes to bed early and will snuggle as long as you are inclined. Taren, on the other hand, is generally wide eyed long after Caelan and awakes in the morning if anyone rustles the blankets a bit restlessly. We have learned if you want to sleep past 5 on the weekends it is wise to lay still. Very, very still. Caelan likes to sleep under the blankets next to me. Taren likes to sleep on top of the blankets, but covered with his own blanket. He is also a grumpy sleeper. If you jiggle the mattress too often he grumbles. If you dare move the leg his head is propped up on, the one every last bit of feeling has drained out of hours ago, he grumps. He likes to hog the bed and the pillows. He enjoys the 2 a.m. stroll out to potty on occasion, and the ever annoying and somehow endearing need of a midnight snack. Taren seems to dream a lot. Sometimes his tail thumps happily, his legs moving in their own rhythm in slumbered chase. Sometimes he makes sounds that induce me to gently wake him. Caelan does not seem to dream as much, but he does snore. He has never once gotten up in the middle of the night to potty. He does however, have his own bad habit. KK is much like a cat, he cleans himself. Lick, lick, lick, slurppppppp......again, and again.  Oh, and again.The sound drives me nuts after a while, and the constantly wiggling mattress sends Mr. Grumpy Pants over the edge. He likes to lick me too, but no thanks. I know where that tongue has been. The thing they have in common is they like to sleep on their backs, and is probably the result of being a bit too warm. It is not uncommon to wake up with a foot in your face, jammed in your back, or propped up on your legs. Like his brother, Caelan is a bed hog, and he radiates heat better than any electric blanket on the market. When morning arrives, and it always arrives early with Taren, the real fun begins. I ask Taren, Where's daddy? Go get him! Taren grabs the blankets with his teeth and pulls them off and buries his snotty nose in my husbands face, rooting around and trying to get him awake. If that fails, he just starts digging and barking  and any hope you had of staying snuggled down evaporates. KK and I lay back to watch the action and cheer him on. Saturday mornings come early, but not without their entertainment.


*** The occasional midnight snack is the result of increased running miles and trying to regulate the amount of food needed. Sometimes I get it wrong, and he lets me know.