Harley & Him: A new sleeping arrangement
Until the last couple of weeks, Dan Rubin was among that minority of Americans who don’t let their pets into bed with them.
That’s right, I said minority, at least according to the American Pet Products Association (APPA), which earlier this year released the results of a survey showing nearly half of dog owners and 62 percent of cat owners share their beds with their pets.
That’s a pretty stunning figure — one that shows not just our increasing closeness to our pets, but our willingness to proudly admit it, even to survey-taking strangers inquiring about our bedroom habits.
But back to Dan (which is how his dog Harley is sometimes sleeping nowadays).
Dan is a friend of mine, a former colleague and Philadelphia Inquirer columnist who never got into the practice of laying down with dogs, at least not in bed. He’s a dog lover, but he’s also a sleep lover, and the latter is more easily accomplished without a 113-pound dog squirming about, he notes.
A couple of weeks ago, Harley, his five-year-old bouvier des Flandres, had leg surgery, Dan explained in his Monday column. And his vet declared stairs off limits for eight weeks.
That meant lonely nights for Harley, who — though not allowed in bed — was accustomed to at least sleeping on the same floor as his family.
Dan’s wife, Mimi, wasn’t about to let that happen. She announced she would sleep downstairs with Harley. Dan, like a dog, followed.
They moved all the furniture out of the TV room and replaced it with a futon mattress, then made a sleeping area for Harley, adjacent to it, topped with his favorite blanket.
But the first night, Dan found Harley on his pillow. A few nights later, Harley settled down on Mimi’s pillow, and they decided there was room for all three, kind of, even with the huge plastic cone Harley has to wear around his neck:
” … He has to wear one of those plastic lamp shades – at the vet’s they called it an Elizabethan collar. It’s about the size of a satellite dish, and he knocks about in the dark with the grace of a rutting Triceratops.”
Harley had surgery for a ruptured cranial cruciate ligament. It involved planing the tibia and making a mechanical adjustment so his bones hinge without requiring the support of the damaged ligament, Dan explained.
With Dan’s man cave temporarily converted into a man/wife/dog cave, Dan says he has had to make sacrifices:
“…We can’t watch baseball in bed because Harley likes to rush the screen every time he sees a pitcher go into his windup. Best I can tell, he thinks they’ve got his ball.”
We wish Harley a full and speedy recovery. And we sincerely hope Dan doesn’t give him fleas.
Photo: Courtesy of Dan Rubin
Posted by jwoestendiek September 6th, 2011 under Muttsblog.
Tags: american pet products association, animals, bed, bouvier des flandres, columnist, dan rubin, dogs, harley, health, pets, philadelphia inquirer, recovery, sharing, sleeping, sleeping with dogs, surgery, veterinary
Comments
Comment from anon
Time September 6, 2011 at 9:49 am
A bouvier is not a delicate creature.
I understand that they were bred for cattle hearding and will throw their body against a steer to direct.
Comment from Barbara Pfeiffer
Time September 6, 2011 at 10:40 am
…lovey…
Comment from Will
Time September 6, 2011 at 11:59 am
Sleeping with your dogs is not a new phenomenon. The Koori originated the expression “three dog night” to describe a night so cold you needed to sleep with three dogs to keep warm.
That expression is quite a bit older than the arrival of Europeans to Australia.
Comment from K reid
Time September 6, 2011 at 1:12 pm
Pets are truly family members! If a carrier or Kennel is introduced in a positive way, the pet will see the carrier as “their own room.” The dog can prefer the kennel as their den and everyone can sleep better.
Comment from jwoestendiek
Time September 6, 2011 at 3:33 pm
I suppose next you are going to tell me that Jeremiah had a bullfrog
John / ohmidog
Comment from Will
Time September 6, 2011 at 4:34 pm
It may have ridden around in his pocket, but his Mom wouldn’t let it sleep in his bed.
Comment from Anne’n'Spencer
Time September 6, 2011 at 4:39 pm
@Will — Every night in this house is a one dog night. ‘Count of that’s all the dogs there are.
@JohnW — Yeah. Was a good friend of mine.
Comment from smoketoomuch
Time September 6, 2011 at 5:23 pm
I cannot imagine sleeping without our Pomeranian either curled up against, or between the feet of, one of us. On the other hand, she has her crate, and her own ‘bed’ (both in our room) as well as her corner of the living room sofa to drift off in should she so desire.
Small dogs make great sleeping buddies for obvious reasons (and my wife is enough of a bed hog all on her own, thank you very much), but at a mere nine pounds of sugary fluff the Haley Bear is the perfect canine sleeping companion. Those who poo-poo the idea are naught but uninformed sticks in the mud.
Comment from vida
Time September 7, 2011 at 6:16 pm
My spouse and I scrimped and saved and finally took a short vacation a few years ago, nice hotel and a huge bed all to ourselves for the first time in years. And neither of us slept at all, it just felt so…wrong without the pack. Couldn’t wait to get home to a nice companionable crowd of furry friends.
Comment from Anne’n'Spencer
Time September 6, 2011 at 8:54 am
The Beagle has interesting sleeping habits, and they’ve gotten even more interesting since we lost Greg. He has a large, soft cushion at the foot of the bed, and he starts out there. Later in the night, he gets up on the bed. Sometimes he sleeps at my feet, sometimes he wedges himself up against my back. But he always returns to his own bed before morning. If there’s thunder, he wedges himself immediately into his place of safety, which is under my nightstand. During the day he stays mostly on a towel under my desk. And he often takes an afternoon nap on my pillow, which is a new thing. When he does that, he un-makes the made-up human bed so he can have access to the actual pillow.