Furriest family member makes adjustments

By Staff
Leada Gore, Editor
The first question I’m asked lately by members of my family is always “how’s Sutton?” The second question is always “And how is Spike?”
Spike is our 3-year-old half Chinese crested hairless powder puff/half poddle dog. Until the baby was born, he ruled our house. He had his own toys, his own chair and more than his share of all attention.
That all changed in July when our daughter was born. Spike had to learn quickly that the baby came first. I did my best, however, to make him feel comfortable with the new baby. My mother, telling me that Spike was “depressed” did more. Each time she would visit, she would bring a present for her new granddaughter and her granddog.
Slowly but surely, Spike became accustomed to the new baby and some new rules, too.
The rules go both ways.
There are Spike toys and Sutton toys and the two should not be confused and therefore chewed on by either party. He is now allowed to lick the baby and she is not allowed to grab his tail and stick it in her mouth. Like I said, the rules go both ways.
I do think Spike rejoiced a couple of months ago when Sutton moved from her cradle in our room to a baby bed in her own room. He once again enjoyed having his own space – in this case our bed – that he only reluctantly lets us sleep on.
For some reason though, Spike continues to wake up with me each time I get up with the baby. He normally hops up and makes the trek with me down the hall to her room, where he sits in her rocking chair until she gets situated and then we both go back to bed. That all changed the other night.
Sutton is teething and not feeling well. She set a new Gore family record Sunday night by waking up six times in the middle of the night. The night went like this:
Incident 1- Mom, dad and Spike wake up and check on baby in her room.
Incident 2- Mom and Spike check on baby in her room. Spike lays down on rocking chair in her room.
Incident 3 – Mom and Spike check on baby, Spike lays on the floor in front of the rocking chair.
Incident 4 – Mom and Spike check on baby. Spike lays down in the door frame of her room.
Incident 5 – Mom and Spike check on baby. Spike opts to stop in the living room, halfway between our room and the baby’s room. He hops on the couch to sleep until I return.
Incident 6 – Spike opts to stay in bed. In fact, I find him asleep on my pillow when I return to the bedroom.
In that last case, I opted to, as they say, let sleeping dogs lie. I went to the living room and tried to go to sleep on the sofa.
I figured this was easier on all of us, especially Spike.