In the early morning, there is a brief period of time when the laundry room door is open, and us girls can use the dog door to go outside. Dad lets us out of our crates, and one of us usually makes a mad dash for the outdoors.
The door stays open while Dad is home. When he leaves for work, he closes the door, because we have been known to bark at 5:30 AM and Dad does not want Mom to have to get up that early to whisper yell at us to get back in the house.
I ran straight for Mom and bed this morning, like I usually do. I was the first girl to get on bed, and my spot was waiting for me. I settled down against the curve of Mom's hip, content to feel her pat my back. But after awhile, I decided I actually had to go outside.
I got up, ran outside and was quietly enjoying my early morning solitude, when horror of horrors, Dad left! He left and shut the door so I couldn't get back inside to Mom and our warm bed! I scratched at the front door, like I used to do in the old days, before a dog door, but Mom didn't get up right away.
Mom says that isn't true. She says as soon as Dad left, and I wasn't in bed, she was pretty sure I was locked out of the house. When I scratched the door, I wasn't patient enough for her to get to it, peek out to make sure it wasn't a raccoon (that happened once before my time but Mom has never forgotten and never opened the door to scratching without taking a look-see first).
She went around and opened the laundry room door, and I have to tell you, all though I'm pretty sure I won't tell her, I was never so happy as when I saw Olive Badger run out the dog door. She knew Mom was looking for me, so she came out to look too. I ran through the swinging door, and got halfway to the bedroom, before I stopped to look at Mom.
Come on, Mom! The bed is getting cold and I'm ready to go back to sleep. She just had to wait for Olive Badger to come in, then she shut the door after counting 1-2-3 dogs and we settled in for a few more minutes of sleep.....which turned into hours actually, but Mom agrees, the extra sleep was very nice!
