Our puppy (who turned 6 months on Sunday, by the way) seems to have a very well-developed protective instinct. Apparently, this is quite rare in Border Terriers. I chock it up to the closeness of his relationship to me and the children. He has slept on the foot of Don's and my bed for the last several weeks but, after our camping trip, moved to the Oriental carpet on the floor of my side of the bed.
During the night, he'll jump up, bark furiously, run down the hall in pursuit of an intruder, then return to curl into a ball and growl for 1/2 hour or so. The problem is with the definition of "intruder". He seems to think that the dishwasher is an intruder, as is the wind blowing past our bedroom windows or the rain hitting the roof.
Last night, three different intruders interrupted his sleep. His barking and pursuit of the intruder interrupted Don's and my sleep. His growling for untold periods of time inbetween his intruder pursuits pretty well ensured that there was no possibility of sleep for me. Finally, in desperation, I kenneled him. Then Don and I laid in bed listening to him growl and moan for at least an hour.
Sleep continues to elude me. Between heat exhaustion from camping, severe stomach cramps for several nights as a result of the heat exhaustion, three charlie-horses in one leg (one right after the other) in the course of one night (most likely a result of the heat exhaustion and the loss of all the potassium in my body), and Donovan's heighthened sense of the need to protect us, I'm beginning to feel like a new mother again.
We're hoping our puppy will soon grow out of his understanding of intruder and begin to pursue only burglars instead of ANYTHING and EVERYTHING that goes bump in the night.
That and some bananas and maybe, just maybe, I'll get some sleep.
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