Puppy Love

If you know us, you probably know about our dog, Gizmo. (Named in honor of my husband’s technology obsession. I always said if I could ever have another pet, I would name it Gadget to fit the theme. Had I been thinking, I would have named Little Man something like Gigabyte so he wouldn’t feel left out.)

When we first adopted the pooch, he was my dog. I asked for him for my birthday 2 years ago. I scoured the internet, watched the SPCA and Humane Society until I found him. Techy wasn’t in for it, but he knew how badly I wanted a pet. I spotted Giz at the SPCA in “Slower Lower”. It was love at first sight. After a week of waiting for a “Yes” from Techy, we finally hiked down there to pick up the pooch. Unfortunately, he was nowhere in sight. I was heartbroken. The next day he showed up at my SPCA and I had my deposit in by noon. When I brought him home, Techy had very little to do with him. Remember, this was “my dog”.

Oh how the tables have turned. “My Dog” now will have very little to do with me, but as soon as Techy comes through the door Giz is running through the house throwing toys in the air and hugging Techy. Yes, Giz gives hugs—it’s slightly ridiculous. He also sleeps with all visitors and scares easily. But he is an incredible dog. And he and Techy are best buds. They communicate on a different level than most pets & owners. Pretty sure they speak the same language.

Anyway, every night Giz climbs up into bed with us and he and Techy begin their nightly ritual of digging through the covers for Gizmo’s toys, bones, and treasures. The growl, they bark, they wrestle, and they irritate me to death. I fuss at Techy about it all the time. I think that we should train the dog that the bed is a calm place, not a place to growl and wrestle, but Noooooooooooooooooooo.

Last night, Techy got his. Around 1:45 this morning, Techy said he woke up to the dog bending over him, playfully growling in his face, with his tale wagging. Gizmo was bored and wanted to go outside and play. After trying to make the dog go back to bed for several minutes, Techy eventually got up and let him out. Somehow, I slept through the drama.

That’ll show you to steal my dog and spoil him! Play time in the middle of the night…

All that to say, now that the baby is sleeping through the night - the dog is the one keeping us up at night.

And even though we are thankful for it, the American dream that we have been living for so many weeks (i.e., white picket fence, baby, dog, etc.) is making us long for sweet dreams that happen at night while we are actually SLEEPING.