Laughs

When Andy and I first moved in together, I knew it wasn't going to work.

One of us was a snorer (and I won't say who), while the other was an apparently very light sleeper. We tried adding white noise to keep on in the background, but didn't want to waste electricity by keeping a fan pointed at the wall during winter. Earplugs, no matter what the make, were far too uncomfortable for nightly use and made hearing the alarm a little difficult.

One day, magically, the problem stopped. Not the snoring, but the snoring as an issue. I'm not sure if the snoring got softer, the light sleeper more resilient or what, but somehow we were both sleeping peacefully through the night.

Then came Milo.

Our first night with a pet, we tried to keep Milo in his "home" (read: "cage" because apparently dogs have learned the English language with all its subtle nuances and might be able to associate the word cage with being confined for punishment?) in the dining room. After an hour of barking and whining, we moved Milo and his home to the living room at the opposite end of the apartment, hoping sheer distance might muffle the noise.

When the barking wouldn't stop, I was wondering what the breeder's return policy was.

"What have we DONE?" I whined to Andy. We were so obviously inept at being pet owners. After one night of troubled sleep, I was convinced it wasn't meant to be.

Luckily, morning brought with it a fresh dose of sanity and I figured since we'd mastered the snoring issue, we might be able to conquer this. One step at a time, our routine evolved and we figured out how to stop the barking by moving the cage inside the bedroom. Small victories lead to bigger victories and before we knew it, Milo was an irreplaceable part of our lives.

After a bath or on special occasions (like when we actually remember his birthday), we'll even let him sleep on the bed with us.

He'll still wake us up with a couple muffled barks and twitching paws when he's having dreams of chasing down a squirrel (or maybe chasing down me and Andy, who can be sure?), but these episodes are so rare that Andy and I still find them unbelievably cute and hilarious.

That's why when I saw the following video clip on Dooce today, I knew I'd be sharing it. Milo's not quite as energetic as Bizkit, but he has rolled himself off the bed before.