Sadie doesn't believe in sleeping in

Our dog Sadie believes in getting up when it gets light. If that's 5:30am, then it's time to rise. If it happens to be 7:15am, that works for her too. Like most dogs, for her clocks are irrelevant. If her friends (us) stayed up late socializing, that's beside the point; when she sees light beginning to show at Streamy's windows, she is going to come to my bedside, to ask me if I too have noticed the light. If I pretend that I didn't hear her toenails clicking the floor as she came down the hall, she will insist that I open my eyes by emitting very high-pitched rapid whines, audible even to someone like me with some hearing loss in the high ranges. So I go ahead and open my eyes, and rub her head, and listen to her tail rhythmically tapping the wall.

At home, often none of this matters, because she sleeps in her crate, and she doesn't get out until I come downstairs in the morning, and release her. But the rules change when we're travelling in Streamy.

Conversely, she believes in going to bed when it gets dark. Never mind if she spent most of the day napping. When it gets dark, it's time to sleep, even if her peeps are still talking, and up and about.

The morning routine at home is simpler, because there is a fenced back yard, so it's as easy as opening the back door to let her out to take care of business. On the road, I have to be dressed, and have my shoes on, since she has to be leashed and walked; she's nowhere near trustworthy enough to just be let out of Streamy to fend for herself. I would rather get dressed and walk her, than to hunt for a lost dog a thousand miles from home.

Most of the time I don't mind when she wakes me up early (except on the mornings after several glasses of wine). Much of the time I would be rising early anyway. It's just that when one is camping, and sleeping with the windows open in 47 degree weather, that down comforter feels really nice in the morning, and it's not easy to crawl out from under it.

Maybe Sadie needs her own down comforter.