Yup, no doubt about it, all Momma said about me is true and even some she did not put on the record. It was about sleep time. As explained, I was a puppy that seemed to suffer from colic and come evening time the whole family including any cats that were inside, all were subjected to a reign of terror brought on by not only bad, but also, barn manners.
You see, every night, at the Puppy Mill, after we were a few weeks old, we would leave our Baby Mama’s side by escaping our lair and like the movie Groundhog Day, we would be traumatized daily by the other dogs, cats, the clucking hens and a vengeful rooster. Baby Mamma begged us to stay by her side, but you think we listened?
As soon as the chase race began, the hens would squawk, the dogs barked, the cats caterwauled, the cows mooed, and the horses whinnied. My puppy siblings and I would hurtle around, deeking, diving in an effort to avoid inanimate and live objects. Sometimes we would jump in the pig pen, huddling together in one corner and hide out till the din died down, Mama Pig, eying us but with non threatening grunts and squeals, communicating with her eyes, ‘You young ‘uns, never learn. When will you just obey your Baby Mama? Anyway, no worries, the enemy is not brave enough to engage me in battle’. I liked Mama Pigs’ attitude.
Once all the animals were settled down for the night, breathing deeply, or snoring, we would slink back to our Baby Mama and crawl back in to our lair to curl up for a good night’s sleep. One night, tired of waiting for sleep to descend, we cuddled up with the piglets and Mama Pig. Baby Mama was so
worried she came looking for us and told us never to do that again to her. And we didn’t. That is the history of the where and when the night terrors began and why we liked the sun to go down. So you might be kind enough to say, I was just a product of my environment and have compassion on me.
However, once I found my Forever Home, the cats that lived there were not buying my act. I am sure I heard them ask Momma, why would I behave like that? The last puppy, Zanny had her faults but she was not ‘loco’ for two hours every night. Momma sighed and explained that Zanny was home raised, she had been socialized since birth, interacting and loving humans from the get go. Right, I saw the Cats rolled their eyes, as they reminded Momma, they were all feral kitties, never had interacted with any human until the day Momma captured them and brought them home. Now they had a hard luck story – born in the wilds, not even a barn for shelter and they were pretty sure that they were not that much trouble. Well, gee, thanks for your warm support, I am going to remember that the next time you want to lie beside me on MY doggie pillow.
All I can tell you is I did get better, really but until I reached that milestone, I was a hurtling little time bomb. After two frenetic hours of bad behavior every evening, I would fall asleep, in a heap on my doggie pillow – at that point when I was so mean and nippy, the cats avoided me – (go figure, now, I am so well-mannered that I have to fight for a corner on my own doggie pillow). That is when the pointy eared / long-tailed little devil with the pitchfork emerged. At bed time Momma would come to pick me up to carry in to her room and I am ashamed to say, I would snarl and growl at her. She would jump back in shock, like she was bitten by a snake. I mean, what part of ‘let sleeping dogs lie’ etiquette did she not understand?.
Finally, exasperated, one night, at my response, Momma tweaked me on the nose and it registered, oh yeah, it is your Momma, just settle down. Startled into submission, I looked in Momma’s eyes and saw the pain and confusion my night terrors, my snarling and growling caused her. Time to let go of those barn yard manners, I realized, you don’t need it when you live in a home with food and fresh water delivered every couple of hours, long walks, a big back yard, comfy pillows, a bed, a basket of toys and some well-mannered cats to play with. That is when I made a conscious effort to get with the program and I got a secret for you. I noticed Momma changed as well, her feelings for Fidel pushed further back in her memory bank, as she committed herself to me.
