The Morning Fake Out

Every morning is an exercise in drama. It's no secret that I adore our pets. We have 3 dogs and a cat.

Duder, not her real name, but an affectionate nickname that she loves, is a 3 year old Wheaton terrier mix who is loyal and friendly and fuzzy. She has a bad, Rod-Stewart hair-do and enjoys a good scritchin. She is mine and my husband's wheat/brown colored shadow.

Weiner, again, not her name, is a 2 year old Dachshund pom mix who is a beast. She's fat and crabby and will growl at you while you are rubbing her belly. However, she is fiercely devoted to our son, AJ and will actually whine and cry for him when he's gone. This has caused us to be very loyal to her. She has the benefit of being incredibly adorable, for all of her miserly ways. She is AJ's little orange/tan shadow.

Pea, aptly nicknamed as she is the smallest of the three dogs, is a 1 year old Chug-- a chihauhau pug mix. With large, frog-like eyes and a small (though ever growing) body, she's gonna have to face it she's addicted to love. Pea was a rescue dog that we found via craigslist and who we almost didn't get because she doesn't photograph well and her picture, well, it scared us. Frankly, she looked a little crazed. However, when we met her in person, after much cajoling on the part of the rescuer, we fell in love. More aptly, I fell head over heels and haven't looked back. Pea is very much my dog. She is a character. She literally dances for treats and likes to cuddle by laying her head on your chest, looking at you with frogger eyes and giving kisses. Pea is my little black shadow.

Then we have Francis. Our cat. She has no cute nickname. The cat hates everyone but my husband. With him, however, she's like a dog. She calls for him in a meow that even sounds like his name. She cries for him when he's gone. She follows him like a dog and laps at his nose. She jumps on his chest and cuddles him and purrs like a motorboat.

Now that you have been adequately introduced, let's talk about mornings. Weiner and Francis spend their mornings on the bottom floor of the house. That leaves my two shadows, Duder and Pea upstairs with me. In our bedroom. They stay up there for a couple of reasons: convenience and longing. Convenience because it's more convenient for me to have them up there than to wake up and yell at them for whining all morning when they can't be with me and have to be downstairs. Longing is on both of our parts. They like being there and I like the security of having them there. I get cold easily. I wake up and with husband and AJ gone I have a Duder on the left side and a Pea on the right. I'm warm, cozy, safe and loved. It's a good feeling.

Here's the issue, when the dogs are sure I'm really awake, it's cuddle time. It doesn't matter what day it is. Cuddle time is every day. The minute they are certain I'm awake. An inordinate amount of time in the mornings is spent pretending to be asleep to avoid the inevitable jumping on my stomach and happiness that occurs when "YOU'RE AWAKE!" happens. There will be slobbering on my face, cuddles, bad breath right below my nose to make sure I'm REALLY awake and the shoving of puppy faces into 2 sleepy hands so they can get their pet on. Cuddling must occur for at least 5 minutes or there will be barking and dismay. Duder is not the love addict Pea is and thus tires of this quickly. She will jump off the bed at which point Pea will growl and bark in a threatening tone at her for her treason. Then Pea will look lovingly at me and give me "cuddles" and gently, in her way, request more cuddle time. Before you know it, I'm running late for whatever it is I was doing.

The moral of the story: I'm a sucker. I love these beasts.