I know many people sleep with their dogs. I’m not one of them. Being a restless sleeper and sharing your bed with a big hairy animal is not conducive to a good night’s sleep.
So we sleep apart, quite happily, me upstairs in my bed and Flossie downstairs in hers in the kitchen.
Flossie’s routine doesn’t vary much. Her final garden visit is completed mid evening. She refuses to go out at bedtime. If she does, she stands helplessly by the back door staring at me, so I’ve given up trying.
Sometimes she takes herself up to my bed during the evening. Consequently, it can take a while to get her to return downstairs and into her own bed. She’s either sleeping very deeply or she’s pretending she can’t hear me. I suspect it’s the latter.
The other night, I called her and busied myself in the kitchen, expecting her to appear in a minute or two. She didn’t. I called her again and waited. Still nothing.
This was unusual, so I went to fetch her, calling her as I climbed the stairs. When I reached my bedroom, there was no sign of her although there was a tell-tale indentation on my duvet where she’d been lying.
I felt uneasy. Rationally, I knew that she couldn’t have disappeared but I was mystified. We live in a small space. She is quite big, but the house was silent.
I walked around calling her again, more urgently this time.
Maybe I’d forgotten to let her in from the garden earlier. I rushed downstairs and back into the kitchen.
And there she was, tucked up in her bed. She lifted her head and gave me a look. I think she may have rolled her eyes with pity.
I’ve mentioned before that I don’t have the best eyesight. I have recently bought new glasses.
Because the bed is dark and she is black I hadn’t seen her. I think she’d been there all along.
Maybe my glasses aren’t as good as I had hoped.
As published in the Bath Chronicle, 25 February 2021
Suzy Pope is a certified copywriter and newspaper columnist specialising in pets, business and lifestyle. If you would like help with a writing project, please get in touch.
