The Adventures of Ford Swofford

Well, Ford spent his first night at Casa de Swofford scratching at our bed trying to weasel his way in, keeping both of us up and being quite annoying...not to mention the potential damage to my beautiful dust ruffle, so we decided to make a huge mistake that many parents make and give in to the child. Yes, that's correct. Ford was allowed to sleep in our bed with us. Stupid, stupid, stupid!!! He was actually pretty decently behaved in our bed, until he wakes up and barks at any movement or noise. We have to keep reminding ourselves that he is a "puppy" and puppies are different than Coach. He doesn't quite sleep through the night yet, and he is so wound up when he comes in the house after being outside, he isn't quite leash trained, and he wants to be in your lap 100% of the time. Coach, in hindsight, is the perfect dog and we were very blessed. Time to stop strolling down memory lane, because it could take a while to address everything that is awesome about Coach, we will look to the future -awesome thing about Coach and his little brother Ford, so here we are... after being sleep deprived and trying to give Ford many chances to prove he is worthy of sleeping in the bed, we've decided to take control of the situation and purchase (drum roll, please) A KENNEL. I said the "k" word. So, we hiked up-hill barefoot in the snow to our local wal mart (maybe a big of an exaggeration for how far out we live) and picked out the proper size kennel for our little friend. Andrew assembled it in the kitchen floor, which was so wonderful because he hates putting things together, but he hates losing sleep more! Thank you Drew! We lined the bottom with an old soft towel, and made a trail of treats all the way from the entrance to the back. Coach was coaxed into the area because of the treats, but lets all be honest... only Coach's head would fit in the kennel, so he wasn't much help! Ford, our brave little friend, was not a soldier (or a Mike Leach pirate for that matter) and cowered at the kennel. But like any child, curiosity killed the cat and the treats won. He slowly but surely built up to walking inside this new entrapment he discovered in the land of kitchen. Eventually, we upped the bribe to a pig ear chew and he went right in, and did not make a peep!!! SUCCESS! He sat inside his new bedroom willingly with the door open, and was quite pleasant. The true test now, is night time... Andrew has the boys in our bedroom, while I'm up writing this lovely & informative post-- so only time will tell. I've heard him whimper/growl a few times (our fierce little guard dog) but it has not been as much of a fight as we were expecting! I know each of you is falling off the edge of your seats in suspense to know the ending (LOL) but you're just going to have to wait... I'll update tomorrow with the events of the night, and Ford's brand new enclosed bedroom extravaganza! To clarify: That's an embellished term for kennel. Stay tuned, there's plenty more where that came from!