Beddie-bye with Aschiuta

Aschiuta is a very energetic doggie - she jumps, runs, chews on things. But when things get calmer, she rolls into a little pretzel and dozes off. On the bed, on the sofa, under the bed, next to the bed, wherever there is room and she feels comfortable.

Aschiuta as a puppy resting on the floor.

The first doggie bed

When we first got the doggie, we put her in a little box with a few old clothes as mattress. But it was a bit too small for her and she kept waking up and shifting around. I found her out of the box quite a few times. Eventually, she ended up on a big pile of dirty clothes and finally had a better sleep (and got the dirty clothes even dirtier).

Carton boxes and old clothes... bed or toy?

We found her a bigger box, then another even bigger box and put a nice pile of clothes in there for her. Unfortunately, the box was carton and apparently yummy for our dog/goat/rabbit. She kept chewing on the edges and trying to yank the box around. It was messy and annoying. Not to mention the fact that she always stole the clothes and ran around with them and swept the floor with them.

The box is now on the balcony, so she can use it when she has to spend the night there.

The first big jump

When Aschiuta was still small, she couldn't jump in bed or on the couch and she was always distressed about this. She saw us sleeping there and wanted to come join us. She saw it was nice and soft, softer than the floor or her bed (she somehow ended up piling the clothes in one spot and sleeping next to them). We always laughed at her as she was wriggling her way up, trying to use us as a ladder.

I always thought that sleeping with the doggie would be a bad idea, because she wouldn't have been able to wipe her paws before hopping in. And I was happy she couldn't jump high enough.

Snore snore.

One day though, she did. She made a run for it and jumped in bed. I shooed her down, but she jumped again. Once she was able to do it, I knew there would be no way she would stay down. I had to visit my mom then and I remember Scorp called me and said "Our little doggie is growing up! Today she jumped in bed on her own. She didn't even have to sprint for it." And that was the beginning of the Doggie Bed Empire.

She likes to make herself comfortable on the bed.

We have a mini bed warmer

She can now stay in bed whenever she wants. We even allowed her on the sofa, cleared half of it for her and now she sleeps there half of the time. She used to eat up the stuffing that came out between the cushions (it's a very old sofa), but I covered it with a blanket and she can't reach it easily anymore.

As for the bed time, she keeps our feet and backs warm. She usually sleeps as soon as we go to bed, or at about 9 pm, like a good little girl. I'm surprised that lately, when we left her alone in the room for a few hours, we found her napping. It might mean that she's finally getting over her separation anxiety. I sure hope so.

Happily napping... Not a care in the world.

 She can sleep in a lot of different positions. She can stretch her paws out until she's half the length of the bed, she can curl into a ball or even nap on her back. A friend told us this means she feels safe, otherwise she wouldn't expose her belly like that. And she even stayed like that when we went to Brasov. I guess home really is where your loved ones are.

She woke up for the photo, but that was her sleeping position.

Now, the only problem with doggie on the bed is that she can get the sheets a bit dirty with her paws, even if we do wash them every time after going out. Doggies will be doggies... And they will always leave pawprints.