Well, she is three years old…
There’s nothing in the world I love as much as my dog Pony (sorry, Peter Gabriel — don’t worry, mate, you’re in the top three). But for all of the joy she brings me, she can can also drive me to banging my head against a wall. She is a black, tan and white British mongrel that I think is part Lab, part Border Collie, part Staffordshire Terrier and part kangaroo. She is full of energy. After two years, my Mom and I saved up enough money to fence in the yard. Great! She can blow off steam without dragging anyone along at the end of her leash.
It’s been less than two months, and we already have a problem with the fence. The problem is that Pony does not want to go to bed at night. So, every night for nearly two months now, she goes through what I call a tantrum. This is how I’ve come to deal with it.
Time For Bed, Pony!
When Pony realises that it’s time for bed (I don’t need to say anything — she just KNOWS), she begins the tantrum. Her tail goes between her legs, her ears press against the sides of her face and she crouches. She starts to whimper and slinks off to my Mom (her Grannie) who is usually sitting in The Magic Recliner. I then call Pony to me, and Pony — all sixty pounds of her — jumps onto Grannie’s lap. She then whines and shivers and sighs her tantrum out to Grannie.
"Grannie can’t help you," my Mom says to her begging face every night.
Pony then turns her pleading eyes to me and stamps her left forepaw just like a small child stamping its foot. "No! Not yet! I put my big, wet, muddy foot down!"
I then have to deepen my voice and command Pony to go downstairs, pointing to the door.
She slinks off and whines, but goes down the stairs, as if I was dishing out the worst punishment ever in the entire history of the canine species. By the time I go downstairs, even hree minutes after she does (we sleep in the same bed), she is already snoring away.
Stressful!
When Pony first started to have these tantrums, I was really stressed out. When Pony shows signs of distress, it’s terrifying. The usual bouncy, tail wagging Destructo Pup has been suddenly replaced by Nervous Nelly. It’s the same posture she goes in to when she is having a pancreatitis attack (and pancreatitis is serious enough in a dog that you have to go to the vet immediately). Vets mean bills, worry, waiting by the phone and other stressful things. I spent the first few nights after her tantrum wide awake, staring at her, praying she wouldn’t start vomiting. She just snored away.
However, if Pony did have pancreatitis, she wouldn’t sleep soundly. After a week, I realised it was all an act.
So how do I deal with this? First, I asked my Mom for advice, since she had to deal with my tantrums when I was about Pony’s age (although Mom said I wasn’t as bad as Pony).
"Ignore it," she advised.
So that’s what I try to do. Sometimes I really hate it when my Mom is right, especially since I’m the one with TWO college degrees. We still have to go through the nightly tantrum, but at least I know she’s not sick, and that saves me some stress. It seems to be her normal reaction to having to go to bed.
Now I only worry that she might be sick if she goes to bed WITHOUT having the tantrum.
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