My Night with Maggie

(This was my night with Maggie a few nights ago....)

My husband and I have been very fortunate with our work schedules these last 2 weeks with Maggie.  So these last 2 days have been hard for me to leave her in her kennel.  I moved her kennel closer to the front entry so she can run outside to go potty when we get home (since she’s been sprinkling!)  I usually give her a Kong treat to distract her while I slip out the door.  Well on my first day of leaving her in her kennel for work she heard the door open, turned, and saw me leave.  I listened outside the door and she was crying and whimpering.  Yes, I will admit it, I shed a tear as well.  I felt horrible leaving my little fur ball buddy!  Fortunately, Joe’s parents were able to come let her out half way through my shift.  By the time they got there she had an accident in her kennel.  While his parents were there they played with her, took her for a walk, and fed her. 

I was planning on being home right around midnight.  Well, of course work was busy and I got out a little late.  I was already worried about Maggie being in her kennel for too long AND to top it all off I got pulled over on my way home because I had a break light out (THANKFULLY the officer was nice and asked me kindly to get it fixed).

When I finally got home, Maggie had puked and peed in her kennel.  Naturally I started feeling guilty and thought she was so distraught she was left in her kennel that she made herself sick.  I took her potty and cleaned up the puke… just what I want to do after having to deal with puke, pee, and poop all night at work (I work as a pediatric oncology nurse - so I deal with all sorts of bodily fluids on a daily basis!).

Maggie was in her kennel all night so I didn’t have the heart to walk upstairs and put her in her kennel so I could get some sleep after an exhausting night at work.  So we played and burned off some of her energy… finally heading to bed around 2am.  Around 3am I hear Maggie whining in her kennel.  I knew she couldn’t have had to pee because I literally let her out an hour prior.  I put my hand down by her and told her to go back to sleep.  She was quiet for a few minutes then started whining again.  (She usually goes back to bed right away so this was odd for her).  I took her out of her kennel to find she had peed everywhere… great another bed to clean up!  I tried taking her outside right away only to find our neighbor’s cats in the front yard (did I mention they are 2 fiesty male cats in heat who love to bug Maggie!?)

Back inside we went… and at 3am I’m scrubbing down and changing out another bed.  I put her back in her kennel only to get another wake-up call at 6am from the little fur ball.  I took her outside to potty (no cats this time) and tried to get her to follow me back upstairs to catch a few more Zzz’s.  The little heart breaker sat at the bottom of the stairs with her head tilted thinking, “Where are you going? I want to play… No more sleep!”  I picked her up and brought her upstairs… I didn’t have the heart to put her in her kennel yet AGAIN… so….

Defeated.

The little stinker ended up in bed with me.  I was desperate!!  I needed to get some sleep since I had to go back to work later that day.  I had to wake her up a few hours later.  All she did was role over for me to rub her belly… such a stinker!!  Thankfully she hasn’t minded going back in her kennel since… she doesn’t even beg to come up on the bed!  I think we have one awesome puppy :-)

(Sorry, Tiana... I caved in!!  Hoping it was a one time thing!!!)