Terriers

Someone should have warned me about terriers. And as I told Sammy, it's a good thing I love her, or she wouldn't be here. Terriers and small critters do not get along. Sammy will bark at anything if it even looks like an animal. I've seen her bark at a leaf fluttering around on the ground. And while the barking can and will send me over the top, the 2am rabbit chases are what really get me. I'll start at the beginning.

We watched my nephews this weekend. The entire evening went great. Dinner, baths, playtime, reading, games, and bedtime; all went smoothly. Michael and I were in bed by 9:30pm, which was great because the night before I woke up at 4:30 am and couldn't go back to sleep the rest of the morning. So imagine my excitement last night as I watched the hours tick by on the clock. I might have gotten some sleep, drifting off between midnight and 1am but was back up, unable to fall asleep (and I'm talking we're counting sheep in the 800's). Around 2:30am Nate wakes up--on a side note I think getting his canines has been worse than his molars, the poor baby is in a lot of pain. So I go downstairs to get him some Motrin and Sammy wants to go out. No biggie, routine. But when she doesn't come back right away after doing her business, I know. I just know. This is not common but also not new. I go outside and she's barking at the animal under the shed. In case it's a skunk I don't run right over, but when I don't smell the skunk stink, I figure it's just a rabbit. So there I am chasing Sammy around the shed, coaxing her with cheese, very unsuccessfully. At this point I think she is going to wake up not only the whole house but the whole neighborhood, but I have to go take care of Nate. Fortunately, and I don't know how, neither one of the other boys woke up through all the crying, and I gave Nate his medicine and he went back to bed. Now, for Sammy. Threatening her with the pound was not working, and I probably, no I did, look like in idiot running around in circles around the shed trying to catch her. It took Michael's help to finally get her inside and then to wash her off because she was all muddy. Finally back to bed and of course I cannot go back to sleep. I finally begin to dose off around 4:30am when Sammy decides to start barking. Well, this does wake up Lucas, but luckily he returns to bed without much effort. I cannot say the same for myself. I don't know what time I actually did fall asleep, all I know is that sometime after six Lucas came crawling into the bed. I made him lie down until 7:30am but with all his moving around and counting down of the clock every few minutes (it is now seven hundred and one!) I was not able to go back to sleep. Not long after Landon was up and then Nate.

So I know the whole night is not Sammy's fault. I know the majority of the night I couldn't sleep for whatever reason, but chasing my dog around at 2am is not my idea of a good time or a good way to fall asleep. If only I could train her to warm me up some milk and sing me a lullaby. Until then, I guess I'll have to settle with the naughty little terrier that we've grown to love.