Doggy Door .... Not For Me

 Cujo here. I am an old dog, set in my ways and not so happy with all the turmoil happening around me. It messes with my schedule of naps. Here lately, I am forced to look around when my eyes open to see where I might be. 

I don't mind riding in the RV and even staying for a few days, but the last trip we took was so confusing! We got to the place that Mom says will be our new home and all of us dogs got out to sniff. I remembered this place! I sniffed a big rock that I had previously marked with my scent. Doesn't matter that Eddie marked on top of my mark and then Toni Louise gave it a try with her leg in the air. Does she not know she is a girl? Bo marked it as well, but I could still identify my mark.

Mom put us on the porch and then got busy unloading stuff. A lot of stuff. Boxes and more boxes came onto the porch. HeWho is our Dad tried putting the boxes on the floor, but Mom reminded him that I was right there and would most likely want to mark the boxes as belonging to us. It is, after all, my job. I remember trying to mark Mom once when I first came to live with her. She was not pleased that I wanted to mark her ankle and washed it off and then asked me if I wanted her to mark me. Actually it sounded like a good idea to me. I want everybody to know that I belong to Mom.

Mom put a fence up for us dogs, she called it a temporary fence. Then she showed us the door on the porch that led to our new yard. It is very tiny, this new yard, I suppose that is what temporary means .... tiny. Why didn't she just say that? Then, when us dogs wanted to come in she had closed this door and said she wanted to show us something special. Special usually means treats and I am always up for new treats. Instead of a yummy treat she showed us something she called a doggy door.

This doggy door was no treat. It was a door in the bottom of the door. It has a flap sort of thing and she told us dogs to push it with our heads and come in. She pulled the flap up and Toni Louise pranced through the opening. Bo was right behind her. She looked at Eddie and then at me and encouraged us to give it a try. We both declined, maintaining our dignity! We looked at each other and agreed that a plastic flap is no way for pedigreed dogs, such as ourselves to be entering our new home. 

Sometimes we make Mom come into the yard and pick us up and carry us in. It is a game we play with her to see how many times we can bark to come in and then stand there looking at her through the open door. Mostly she will just stare back at us and close the door in our faces. Weather conditions can dictate how long this game lasts or how busy Mom is. It is great fun, though.

But, another concern here. If this is our new house, where is our cat? Where is that silly turtle Mom seems to love? Where are our things? I was so confused. Instead of staying inside the RV to sleep at night, we stayed in this new house. It already had a bed and a chair and a couch. Mom put sheets on this small bed and we all got in. HeWho is our Dad was cold in the RV. He said something about the heater not working and Mom said that the need for our leashes was gone with the fence and the doggy door and that even if we didn't have water, at least we were warm.

I ventured out to see that our dog bowl did have water and we had dog food, so what was she worried about? That first night, Mom complained that she didn't sleep well, the bed was too crowded. Crowded is just the way us dogs like it! We didn't have a problem at all. I was in my usual spot, right under Mom's armpit, Toni Louise was on part of Mom's pillow and Eddie and Bo were on her legs. I don't see what the problem was!

The very next day, she discovered that the little couch had a bed hiding inside it! She put sheets on this bed, too. Mom likes sheets, she will say the bed is not dressed unless it has sheets. Really all you need is covers, right? That night Mom got in the crowded bed with all of us dogs and HeWho is our Dad. She waited until Dad and BO were asleep, then she carefully lifted me, then Eddie out of the crowded bed and took us to the tiny bed with her. She called it a twin size bed. I thought twin meant two, so I wondered where the other bed might be hiding.

We got nice and cozy in our twin bed and all of a sudden we felt Bo jump onto our bed! Mom told him to get still and we went to sleep. This didn't last long before Toni jumped onto the twin bed. Now this was a really crowded bed! Dad had the entire queen bed to himself!

Mom told him she didn't mind that Eddie and I were in the bed with her, as she knew that I would not stay in bed with him and that Eddie would bark if I jumped down to join Mom. She said she was okay with Bo, as he is small and curls up next to Eddie. But, then she told him she did not expect Toni Louise to invade the tiny bed, that she was sure she would want to stay with her master. Toni Louise does not respect boundaries and she sprawls. She dreams and moves all night long, some times shoving a foot into Mom's face. Toni and Dad make a good pair!

Back to our old home now and everything is chaos with boxes and stuff being packed. Any minute now I expect to have the sofa I lounge on to be ripped out from under me! The RV has been replaced with a tinier version and HeWho is our Dad is all a tither about hooking up the two TV's inside it. Don't know why they need two, it is not like they can't hear the TV from every corner. Oh, Mom says you can't SEE it from every corner.

I hear them planning another trip to the new house. Something about registering the new RV and taking a load of stuff on the way. I will report the next adventure upon my return. Until then, this is Cujo, signing out.