Grr, puppies...

Last month I had agreed to puppysit my friend Sam's dog. He and his wife own a Jack Russel Terrier that on previous trips I have watched for a day or two at a time. But for this trip they were going to be gone for a week. Since he lives about 15 miles, or 20 minutes away, I wouldn't be able to just stay at his place with the dog, so with the consent of my landlord I decided I'd bring the dog over to my place.

Here's the problem. This dog is spoiled. She's used to sleeping in the bed with her owners, and is usually around someone in the family regularly. I, on the other hand, won't let her sleep with me. I also work a full time job, and oddly enough, enjoy an uninterrupted sleep schedule. The dog doesn't. She whines, growls, and barks all night because she wants to get in bed with me(and who can blame her;-). It's gotten to the point that she has kept me from sleeping for more than 2hrs at a time. And she doesn't need to go pee either. The first two nights I would take her outside to go, and she'd just wonder around sniffing things. So last night I let her whine and complain until 3, then took her outside to pee, and left her in the living room while I locked my bedroom door and got 3.5hrs of sleep.

I love animals, but they are just animals. They can be a part of your family, but in mine they will remain at the level of "pet" and not "almost like a child." And its especially unfair to treat them like a child for a few years, then have kids and ignore them. So any dog I get in the future will not be allowed in the bed. Period. This will also be nice for the people who will be dog-sitting it in the future, as they will be able to get a good nights sleep.