Monday, June 16, 2008

... And the dog starts barking. 3:00 am.

I decided to ignore her, but she did her metronome barking for the next 45 minutes. I am not kidding. She barked one bark every 30 seconds or so for 45 minutes. So after laying there trying to go back to sleep unsuccessfully, I got up.

She’s starting the barking earlier and earlier each day. Yesterday it was 3:40am when the barking started. I got up because I misread the clock and thought it was 4:40am. I hate to think how early the barking will start tomorrow morning.

I don’t know what to do about this. We walk her when we go to bed. We make sure she has a full water bowl (because she’ll bark for water, too - she has always consumed large quantities of water).

This can’t continue, but there are no good options. She’s too old to have someone take her - that didn’t work when ECD took her. She’s too healthy to put down. I can’t put her in the pound. But I also can’t continue getting up in the middle of the night to release the dog from her crate.

“Just go back to bed,” you say.

It isn’t that easy. When I’m up, I’m up. I can’t go back to sleep after I’ve been up and moving for more than a trip to the bathroom or to check on Jesse. Especially that close to actual wake up time.

I’m at my wits end.