Three is a crowd!

I spent a nice weekend at the cottage with Serge and the girls…and Hoffie, our English springer spaniel.

The girls decided to go back Saturday night, so we were left alone with Hoffie.  We had decided to go to the cottage to see the progress being done on the installation of the new roof.  Because it was not yet completed, the tradesmen had covered the open roof with a large tarp and 2x2s to hold the whole thing down.

All day Saturday, the wind was fierce and the sound of the wind passing through the tarp was deafening and to top it off, the 2x2s kept flying off the roof landing on the deck with a loud thump.

Of course, this was quite disturbing for Hoffie, who is a bit of a scary cat (sorry Hoffie for the insult).

When it was time to go to bed, Serge and I  wondered how we would manage with Hoffie.  You see, the new cottage has a large dining and living room but the bedrooms are rather small and we only have double beds for the moment.  There is about 12 inches of floor space around the bed.

So Serge decided to put a cushion on the floor so that Hoffie could sleep on it.  You can’t fit 2 adults and a 57 pound dog in a double bed…or can you.

I have always been more of a cat person.  Before Hoffie, I did not really like dogs.  All past experiences I had with dogs had been rather negative.  Then Hoffie came into our lives, primarily to help Serge go through his chemo and radiotherapy treatments, but Hoffie quickly became an important part of our family. 

I will admit that I actually consider Hoffie to be my little boy.  When he’s scared of thunder during a storm or when the fire alarm goes off when I’m cooking, he runs to me…his mommy.  For everything else, it’s Serge, his best friend!

So, when we were in bed last night and the wind started its loud swooshing on the roof and the 2x2s continued flying off the roof, I was the one who "invited" Hoffie to hop on the bed. 

Big mistake!

Of course Hoffie did not wait to be told twice and decided that he could spread out between us instead of staying at the foot of the bed and “sharing” the cramped spaces.  We did manage to sleep a little but we were not comfortable and way to cramped.

I got up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night and laughed as Serge was almost hanging off the side of bed because Hoffie was sprawled in his place.  At that point, we realized that we would not be able to sleep unless drastic measures were taken.  Hoffie was taking too much space and he was like a furnace (I was boiling hot and not due to hot flashes, I assure you).

What were we to do…get Hoffie to jump off the bed and sleep outside the room?  Get him to sleep on the floor…all alone and scared? 

Don’t worry….no dogs were hurt as an outcome of this story!

At 4:32, Serge got up with Hoffie, to give me the bed and went and slept on the couch, so that Hoffie could have all the space he needed and have his daddy beside him for security.

The morale of this story is that 3 is a crowd and that Hoffie always wins….no matter what.  After all, how can you say no to such a cute face and sad eyes.

However, we are now back at home and what happens at the cottage stays at the cottage (or something like that). 

Tonight our "57 pound baby" goes back to sleeping on the carpet on the landing….outside our bedroom door!  Cesar Millan (the dog wisperer)would be proud of me, as he always says, its not the dog that needs re-training, its the humans :)