The joy of earplugs

[bunn]

I finally gave in to increasing levels of sleep deprivation, closed all the doors in the house, put in earplugs and let foster Ruggie just bark to himself downstairs last night.  (Ruggie cannot or will not walk up stairs, and disapproves of everyone but the cats vanishing upstairs for the entire night.)

Even with earplugs in I can still just about hear him, but  I feel SO MUCH MORE HUMAN for having slept a full night in bed.  I don't think he barked the whole night, and when I came down, he seemed excited but not hugely distressed.  I would never let a sighthound bark on and on like that, but I can't imagine a sighthound randomly barking for hours without being severely distressed, whereas it almost seems like Ruggie's default state is either asleep or barking!  ( I don't think anyone outside the house can hear him, it's doubleglazed and our neighbours are not right next to us. )  Also, I could probably carry a sighthound upstairs if I needed to.  Though now I think of it, foster Bob didn't like being upstairs and we had a bed for him in the hall.  He didn't bark all night though!

Ruggie's off to his new home on Monday, barring any last-minute glitches. New owners have a bungalow and their other golden retrievers sleep in the bedroom, so they are used to it! 

Comments

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

Well done to Ruggie on finding a new home, and to you for managing to sleep all night.

The barking reminds me of my old Samoyed George, who once barked himself hoarse for fifteen minutes after being left behind with me by my parents one evening. He then went off for some water, before resuming barking for another fifteen minutes. I let him outside after that, so he could howl his presence at the world for a while.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I think I should probably have tried leaving him to bark sooner: because my dogs almost never bark, I tend to assume it means something srious!