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Naughty Zada

In five days I'll have had Zada for five years. Kind of hard to believe that much time has gone by and she's THAT old...

Since the day I brought her home, we've definitely had some ups and downs but overall I think she's a great dog. Other than a few idiosyncratic tendencies, she's a well-behaved, friendly dog and I love her to pieces.

Let me preface the following tale with some back-story: I grew up in a family of large dogs (mainly German shepherds, though recently my parents have decided they're more partial to Goldens). We lived in the country so our dogs were always indoor/outdoor and while they spent the evenings in the house, they were never, ever...EVER...allowed on the furniture. That's just not the way we Berniers roll.

Imagine Clint's and my surprise, then, when today we rang in 2012 with quite the surprise: Zada evidently spent the night on our guest bed downstairs!!!

I can honestly say this dog has never been on the furniture – she's never been invited up, she's never tried to get on it, and if she HAD managed a sneak foray onto the couch we'd have known instantly (she sheds year-round and leaves a plethora of guard hairs wherever she may roam).

However, the evidence is there, plain as day...I might not've cleaned recently, but I keep a neat house and the guest room is always ready to go at a moment's notice: tidy, with clean sheets and a very wrinkle- and – until recently – dog hair-free bedspread. Not so much now.

I WILL say that after Clint and I got back from our December trip to Puerto Vallarta, I noticed a LOT of hair on that same bed and called my cousin (who'd watched both Zada & Tesa) in a panic, gasping out, "were the dogs up on your bed?!" She said that no, definitely not, but she HAD kicked her covers to the floor and not made her bed, and the dogs had lain on the bedding while it was on the floor.

I did believe that story, since Tesa does exactly that every time Mom makes the bed back home (as soon as the old sheets come off, Mom says Tesa's right there to nest in there and take a nap). That seems to have been the prelude to full-blown doggy naughtiness since Zada now assumes this bed – which is a futon and therefore much closer to dog-level than our own bed – is there for her snoozing gratification.

I'm NOT happy about this turn of events but other than catching her in the act (unlikely) all I can do to deter her is close the door to that bedroom, which has almost always been her favorite to hang out in (on the floor, of course).

While I was in there taking the evidence – I mean, pictures – she wandered in after me and when she passed by The Spot, she got very close and gave it a nice long sniff...probably thinking, "I can't wait until bedtime tonight!" I gave her an admonition – "No, don't you DARE" – and she lowered her ears and kinda slunk off...I think she knows she was naughty.


What do YOU think?


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