Thursday, April 30, 2009

The Nightmare on Puppy Street



Once upon a time, there was a cute cuddly puppy named Raelyn who loved to play and chew. This amazing little puppy really, really, really, really, really doesn't like to be in her crate. She needs to be held and petted quietly in a lap and then sleepily shoved in her crate to go to bed at night. This had been going great and all was well in Puppyland.

Then late one dark and non-stormy night (also called Tuesday) disaster struck tranquil Puppyland! About an hour after *finally* quieting down in her crate and going to sleep (1am)....strange horking noises were emerging from her general direction. "OH NO," said the sleeping villagers in Puppyland, "What is going on?!" Raelyn apparently had an upset tummy and puked in her crate (which she promptly tried to eat...eww). One drowsy villager took her outside while the other dutifully cleaned up the mess in her crate. Wide awake she was, yet back in the crate she found herself. "Sound the alarm," Raelyn cried, "All is not well in Puppyland as I am trapped in this godforsaken prison!" The loud alarm noises (whining, barking, whiny barks) erupted out of the little cute puppy for about 30 minutes despite the best efforts of the villagers to correct/ignore her behavior. Ahhh...the villagers sighed once the snuggly beast had accepted her situation and went back to sleep while snoring loudly.

You might think that would be the end of the story....but you would be WRONG as once again the puppy alarm was sounding at 3:30am. The villagers cried from their bed, "Curses you cute cuddly vile beast!" Again the sleepy villagers had to endure the long torture of waiting for the puppy monster to finally go back to sleep. Alas, the time eventually came that the noisy creature again slumbered (and praise to the puppy gods that she slept until 9:30am).

THE END

2 comments:

  1. This story has a happy ending--because Raelyn will eventually get it! Cabana cried in her crate for the first two weeks, sometimes for as long as 45 agonizing minutes. But you may want to ask your puppy group leader about whether you should be holding her until she's sleepy. It seems like an extra step that may be setting up false expectations. When it was bedtime (10:00pm), we would take Cabana out for her last potty, then just put her in the crate. The longer you coddle her, the longer it might take for Raelyn to "get it". After the first two weeks were done, through which we endured her bedtime barking/howling/whining, now Cabana never ever makes a sound in her crate. Hang in there!

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  2. Darn you for making me laugh out loud at lab! It was a close call, but I did manage to avoid spitting soda all over my keyboard. :)

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