May We All Get the Rest That Karal Gets While Falling Asleep Upon My Chest Each Night Before I, Too, Retire

I've mentioned that Karal was adopted and returned 3 times, before she settled into her 4th home - my home.  She's a jumper, a biter, and super excited, so I can imagine how hard she would be to keep in a NYC apartment or with kids. The last owner, in fact, said, "She's a really good dog when she settles down. It's just we can't wait for those moments."

Well, I've not had a problem, although she is biter and jumper. She has a lot of energy and it takes training and patience to get her to be less enthusiastic at life. In my home, she's almost perfect good behavior (until Chitunga comes home, and then she's an out-of-control little sister who wants nothing but to love her big brother). 

We've moved over the last month from barking like a madwoman when she wants to settle into evening sleep, to my adjustment to the couch, where she lays in my lap and falls into a deep, snoring snore. This is new. Although she likes to sit on my shoulders to surveillance the neighborhood from my front porch and she will sleep in my bed, she's not been the cuddling, affectionate type. 

Instead, she barks. And she barks until I go to bed. 

I'm please to say we've turned a corner, however, and Karal now cuddles with me after I type my last words, and sit in front of the t.v. to unwind. I should note. She's training me. I pay astronomical cable bills NOT to watch t.v.. I have, however, moved to the t.v. set at the time she's ready to fall asleep. She joins me, curls up, and zonks out. No barking. Just rest. Calm, cool, collected rest.

"Crandall, I'm just trying to make you a little more human than you are," I hear in her dreams. "Chill out. Relax. It's all good. You can put your computer away a couple of hours before you go to bed. Free your mind."

And I do. Yes, I'm training her, but she's training me, as well. When she calms, I calm, which I greatly need to do. Rather than work from 7 am. until 10 pm, I am allowing myself 9 to 10 to be her pillow, which in return allows my brain to get some stillness. 

I hope we all get such rest.