Little Houses All in a Row

So this is where they sleep every night -- hotel row -- it's usually the last thing I see every night and the first thing I see every morning.

When Chloe came home with us for the first time on Sunday, December 26, we stopped at PetSmart and purchased her the carrier on the right. I had no idea what to get her. I thought she needed something roomy. My sis who owns and operates a K9 Kamp in Portland, Oregon, has each pooch sleep in a carrier every night and when we've been there visiting they seem to love that. That first evening with Chloe, we were on a new adventure, so Chloe arrived at our home with a place to sleep.

While at PetSmart that evening, I also purchased the big white cushy bed (which I think is really a cat bed). Thankfully I also purchased her a little purple jacket/cape (she's always cold). It closes with a Velcro strip underneath her tummy. Mitzi and Max are fascinated by the Velcro, so they try to tear it off of Chloe. When they are successful at doing that, then they stick the Velcro to the carpet and Chloe struggles to get loose from the rug, and usually she can't, and then gets my attention with a shrill bark. Dull moments are non-existent here.

Just six weeks after Chloe joined our family, Mitzi and Max arrived on February 4th. We went from zero to three before we knew what happened. Max came with the medium-size carrier and Mitzi with the itty-bitty one.

We eventually made a switch and gave Max the biggest carrier and moved Chloe's white cushy bed and toys to the medium-sized carrier. Every evening the three of them race up the stairs to our master bedroom and Chloe tries to get into Mitzi's house. Mitzi loves being in hers and I think she'd go to bed every night as soon as the sun goes down. After watching Mitzi eagerly get into her carrier, Chloe now enters hers with no hesitation. Max likes sleeping in his, but he also thoroughly enjoys rolling over on his back with his legs in the air across the room from his "hotel" so that I will scoop him up and take him to the door of his carrier. I snuggle him and hug him and make a big to-do, which I am sure just encourages him to repeat the performance again the next night.

I've learned not to cover the doors and air-vents of Mitzi and Max's carriers. I thought they all needed to be completely covered so that the light and any movement by us would not disturb them, but they are both so hot-blooded that they can't tolerate the covers. Chloe, on the other hand, doesn't have the luxurious fur coat of the other two, so her little carrier gets completely wrapped in towels and it looks like an igloo sitting between the the two of theirs.

Then Mr. Fun and I sit in bed watching the late news on TV and looking at those three carriers and we can't help but chuckle. Having these three feels so right, so funny, so hilarious, and so unbelievable. In three short months life at "Funville" has changed considerably -- the responsibility, the work, the poop, but mostly the joy of having these pooches has lubricated our hearts. In these past three months, I've had a year's worth of laughter and love and licks. And yes, we still miss Bob Dog, who always slept on our bed until he got too old to do so.

In a future blip if Chloe, Mitzi, and Max give me their permission, I'll display where they hang-out during the day if they must stay home alone.

It's been a good Sunday and now Mitzi is wishing that we'd all head upstairs to her favorite place to sleep.

Good night from Southern California,
Rosie (& Mr. Fun, Chloe, Mitzi, and Max), aka Carol