John and I still miss Petey . Yesterday as we were leaving the house after dark , I automatically reached to turn on a light so that Petey wouldn 't be left in the dark . I mentioned my memory lapse to John when it happened and he admitted that recently he 'd thought he would put some meat broth over Petey 's food . Petey was with us for a long time , so we know it will take a while to stop having those thoughts almost as a reflex . Most of the time we smile when we remember the little goof . Then today 's mail came : It made me cry . It was such a kind thing for the clinic to do . They were the first to send us a sympathy card after having followed up with us the next day . We both thought , that was more than required and expected nothing more . I can most assuredly say that if we ever get another pet , we will chose the Berry Hill Animal Clinic to care for it . We will recommend them to anyone in the Nashville area . They took good care of Petey while he was alive and even remembered him from one visit to the next . Now , they are taking good care of us . The other night John remembered the times when he had a rare sleepless night in which he would get up and go to the recliner to see if he could rest there . Whenever that happened , Petey would get up from wherever he was sleeping and go check on John . He always had to keep tabs on his people . Petey would arrive in the living room just about the time John would get relaxed . Petey had to get in the recliner with John and squeeze himself between John and the arm of the recliner . He 'd work and work to make himself comfortable . Usually about the time they both got settled again , Petey would remember that half of the bed was empty and make a beeline to the bedroom to get in John 's spot . Thus , disturbing John once again . We had a nice chuckle at the memory of Petey 's little quirks and went to sleep . A couple of hours later John woke up . He was wide awake and unable to settle down to get back to sleep so he went to the recliner . He went to sleep there . Petey still came and disturbed his rest . John dreamed repeatedly about Petey . He has some pleasant dreams about him in his prime before his face turned so white with age . He has some unpleasant dreams in which he was looking and looking for Petey but could not find him . When he woke up he made a beeline back for the bed ! I 've been noticing lots of dogs in our neighborhood lately out for walks or runs with their owners . I 'm sure that there are no more dogs out than there were about a month ago ; I 'm just noticing them more now . I 'm not crying when I see dogs so much any more . I 've moved on to the jealousy stage of grief . ( Is there one of those ? ) I 'm jealous of those owners who are so loved by their animals . I knew that love once and now it is gone . There is nothing quite like the love of a dog . They are always glad to see their owners . Unless like Petey , the suddenly remember that they 've been left alone , then they pout for a while . They are always forgiving and gentle . Unless they are Petey and have just been given a snuggi or pet steps or a treat that wasn 't a bacon treat . We eventually got forgiveness and didn 't do it again . OK . So , it wasn 't always a bed of roses with Petey . But that is what made him so unique . And I still miss him and his affection whenever and however he decided to dole it out . We had to let Petey go three weeks ago yesterday . I still miss him , and I know I 'll miss him for a long time . The memories aren 't as piercing now . His absence doesn 't loom so large and the silence is no longer deafening . Healing is happening . As I was eating lunch today , I decided that I didn 't really want the last couple of bites . Three weeks ago , a little white dog would have been watching my every bite and I would have handed him nibbles all along . I would have given him those last couple of bites as well . It made me sad to toss it in the trash instead . Nevermind that the odds were pretty good , I would have wound up doing that anyway because it was hard to know if Petey would take table scraps or not . Little stuff like that pops up all of the time . At least now , I don 't cry about it , at least not every time , or as much . There are two times that I miss Petey the most and it is going to take longer for me to get over . Those two times are when I leave the house and when I come home . Long time readers will remember Petey 's very strict rules . All Petey rules were very strict ! One of them was about leaving the house . Simply put , don 't do it . If however it is unavoidable , do it only once per day . Coming & going , particularly in rapid succession were just not tolerated well . Heaven forbid , that we get to the car and realize we left something inside . We 'd actually discuss if we really , really needed it and if so , who had to go inside and get it . Once I started working from home , I tried to limit myself to one trip per day still , trying to pile up all my errands in to one trip . I 'd sneak out while he was asleep and leave treats in the kitchen floor for him . I hoped that would make up for the fact that he didn 't find me when he woke up . If I left while he was awake , I 'd tell him how long I 'd be gone and give him a treat . Often he wouldn 't take it because he knew what that meant . I guess he hoped that if he didn 't take the treat I wouldn 't leave . Coming home is harder still than leaving . When Petey was in his prime , we 'd be greeted with the Petey Dance . He was just so glad to see us that he couldn 't keep still . He 'd have been waiting on the back of the couch where he could see out the front window . He 'd race to the kitchen door the minute he saw the car and prance around excitedly until we came in . It felt good to be so loved and welcomed . As he got older , he didn 't greet us at the door so much and his hips didn 't allow for much dancing , but he always was obviously glad we were home . On the drive home from wherever , even a quick trip to the store , my mind would always be casting ahead to what Petey would need when I got home , or what he might have done in the house , or maybe he was still asleep and didn 't know I 'd gone . My first thoughts were always of him . For 12 + years , my mind headed that way . It will take a while to retrain my thinking . That 's OK . I like remembering Petey . In time , I 'll smile more at the memories rather than cry . This post is for me . I want to get the memories down while they are still fresh . I 've waited until now because it hurt too much to relive the experience . I want to document the final chapter in Petey 's life , even if I never read it again . John came home from work about 12 : 30 . He wanted to spend some time with Pete before the vet was schedule to arrive at 4 : 00 . I was anticipating a gut wrenching afternoon . It was . We told Petey again and again that the doctor was coming and she would help him out of all his pain . It gave us time to discuss what of Petey 's we wanted to keep as mementos of his life and what we wanted to donate . Even though we agreed to get rid of his beds , I left them right where they were until he was buried . I didn 't want to risk him seeing his beds gone and get upset like he always did when I decided it was time to wash them . It was clear that the medication for his back legs wasn 't getting the job done anymore . I 'd already doubled the vet 's dosage , no longer fearing kidney failure or liver damage . Even with that , it took several tries for him to stand and walking was an iffy proposition . He had little control over those back legs so he wasn 't steering so well . John was convinced that he was deaf . I admited that his hearing had diminished , but I still contended he had selective hearing . In the last few weeks , he 'd become night blind . We were having to leave lights on in the house at night so he could see to get to his water bowl . Between the night blindness and the bad back legs he was a hazard to himself at night in the dark . We were up with him a good bit , much like parents of a newborn . As we would tell Petey that this was for his own good , we were trying to convince ourselves as well as him . Petey was calm and took the news well . He licked my face as I cried . Maybe to comfort me , maybe the salt water tasted good . He was happy those last few hours . He had his two favorite people with him with 100 % of our attention . It was what he loved the most . We gave him all the bacon treats he could hold . He seemed to enjoy them again . ( In recent weeks , he 'd take or leave a treat when offered . ) As I was eating a dark chocolate peanut butter granola thin , and holding Pete , he acted very interested in it , so I gave him a taste . He liked it and clearly wanted more . So , I fed him a whole one . Then I got another and gave it to John to feed him . Petey ate with gusto we hadn 't seen in ages . It did the three of us good . The vet 's office called just before 4 : 00 and offered cremation services which we declined . The vet arrived promptly at 4 : 00 and I just lost it . We were all outside enjoying the lovely afternoon and I knew when I saw the car that this was it . John was holding Petey and Petey began to bark like he hadn 't barked in ages . ( At our yard sale just a few weeks ago , he was quite docile and let strangers touch him . ) The Petey that prompted the start of this blog was back . The vet was kind and compassionate and hugged me . We all went in to the house . I held Petey like a baby up on my shoulder while John signed the necessary paperwork . John sat by me on the couch and the vet knelt in front of us and administered the first dose of medicine . This was just to help him relax and go to sleep . In typical Petey fashion , he fought it . He tried to keep those eyes open . I handed him to John . John held him up on his chest like a baby too . He had his left hand on Petey and his right arm around me . I rested my head on John 's chest with my face next to Pete 's . I had my right hand on Petey and my left under John . I cried unashamedly , as Petey closed his eyes for the last time . The vet went in to the other room to give us time alone . When she came back into the room to give him the lethal dose , Petey 's eyes eased back open . I think he was already gone then . I think his little body was so fragile , that the sedative took him . At the time , however , I thought he wasn 't quite asleep and asked the vet to wait for him to close his eyes again . She told me that it was OK , that he was relaxed . She gave him the last injection and within just a few seconds checked his heart and it was no longer beating . She kindly stayed with us a while . When she left she gave us a burial bag for him . We took him to an undisclosed location and buried him . I was strangely emotion free by then . I was hollow . We buried him with what remained of his beloved green ring and a bacon treat . We marked the spot , even though I knew I 'd never come back to that spot of ground to talk to Petey . It is not my style . I don 't want to think of Petey there . I think of Petey every morning when I get up and his yellow blanket isn 't beside the bed . I think of him all day long as I work and he isn 't on the discarded mattress pad , or isn 't following me from room to room as I move about the house . I think of Petey when I walk in the front room , where he used to go pout when the baby arrived . I think of Petey when we are watching TV and night and he 's not on his pillow in the floor supervising us , or angling to go out once it gets dark , or herding us off to bed . I think of him when we actually turn off the lights at bedtime rather than turning them on . I think of him when I come home and he 's not there to greet us and I don 't have to look for pee in the floor . ( Petey did pee in the floor right in front of John and me one last time Monday afternoon ! ) Petey 's old worn out little body will return to the earth , but his memories will live in our hearts forever . In time , the memories will make us smile and laugh rather than prick our hearts . We had a good run with Petey . I have no doubt we made his life better when he came to live with us . But , Petey made our lives much richer and fuller . I think we got the better end of the bargain . When I started this blog , I knew it would not last forever . I knew that one day I would have to share the news that Petey was no longer with us . I really thought the day would come sooner than it has , so I am thankful for that . I 've known since the end of July that the end was nearer than it ever had been before . Now , I know that Petey is in his last hours as I type . By the time this is read , he may already have crossed the rainbow bridge . I 've called the vet and scheduled his final appointment . They will come to the house this afternoon and administer the medication required to end his pain . Petey had a hard weekend . His back legs just aren 't getting the job done any more . He 'll try to stand only to fall repeatedly . Once he finally gets up , he has little to no control over his steps . He walks into stuff , big stuff like walls and furniture . John and I have resorted to carrying him . He lets us . The young Petey would not have allowed such an indignity . Now , he 's content to be carried . As hard as it is and will be for us , it is time to end his misery . We have many fun and many frustrating memories of the little goof . Our life took a dramatic turn that we never anticipated when we took him in . In spite of his many little quirks or maybe because of them , he wormed his way into our hearts as well as our lives . Memories of Petey will surround us for a long time , even longer than it will take to get rid of the last bit of his fur on the furniture . We 'll hold those memories near as we miss his presence with us . I 'll leave this blog up and welcome comments of any memories of Pete . I may post my own memories from time to time . I will miss him , more than I care to admit . Petey loves a good place to burrow down and nap . That is nothing new . I 've blogged before about all of the beds he has all over the house . He has a bed or presence in every room in the house with the only exception being the hall bathroom . ( The only place he 'll drink water is from a bowl in the back bathroom , not in the kitchen next to his food bowl ! ) Never mind that the humans only have one bed and they share it ! Of course , there is the bed in the guest room , but still ; Petey has more beds . However , even with this many beds , it isn 't quite enough . Not for Petey . Yesterday , he took his bed obsession to a whole new level . It started first thing in the morning , when he wasn 't in the bedroom bed . This is odd , since his first rule is that no one sleeps alone in the house . Even though his back legs prevent him from actually sleeping with the humans , he stays in the same room if at all possible . I looked in all of his typical spots and a few that weren 't and couldn 't find him . I was just about to call John at work to see if he 's left him out when he went to work . Before I made the call , I remembered one last spot in the guest bedroom . I found him in a corner behind a rocking chair on some pillows . We 'd pulled the pillows out from under the bed to make room for a mattress . We had not yet found a new home for the pillows , but Petey made good use of them in the meantime . ( Sorry , I didn 't think to take a picture . ) A little later in the morning , the baby came over . To say Petey is jealous would be a understatement . He is , but he has not been aggressive towards her at all . He would just rather not have my attention divided . Nor John 's , for that matter . The baby has a nice floor play mat : She spends hours and hours rolling around on the floor on or nearby this . Yesterday was no exception . The first time she rolled off of the mat itself and was on the floor playing , Petey eased himself on to the mat and acted as if it was right where he belonged . The baby really was happy to share and reached over to express her joy by grabbing his tail . Petey cut his eyes around at her , but never even moved his head or make a sound . She patted his back leg and he let out a heavy sigh , but never moved a muscle . I moved her because I didn 't want to push Petey too far . We were going to get the camera to take a picture of Petey on the mat , but he followed us . So , I put the play mat on a bigger blanket in the floor . I put the baby on the play mat and Petey got on the blanket next to the mat and all was well . Finally , during the night last night , the blanket we have on my side of the bed fell in to the floor . I did not know it happened , but Petey did . His bed is on John 's side of our bed , but still he realized that the blanket was in the floor . He repositioned himself on top of that blanket , after scratching around on it some to make it more comfortable ! I 'd like to conclude by saying that we learned a valuable lesson about Petey and his bed needs yesterday , but I can 't . I don 't think we can fully comprehend just how many beds a dog needs , nor where they need to be . At least he got a long a little better with the baby . Old man Petey takes three doses of medicine each day . He has half an arthritis pill in the morning and the other half in the evening . At bedtime he has a quarter of a calming medication so that we can all sleep all night long . Most of the time he takes the arthritis medicine straight from our hands . Most of the time he 'll take the beddy - bye pill with a little peanut butter . We think it might have a bitter taste once it is quartered . It is a good thing that the old dog is so good at taking his meds , or else we 'd all be upset a lot of the time . Some days , however , Petey exercises his right to be contrary and doesn 't take his pill when it is offered . Most of the time when this happens , we just stop trying for a while . On the second or third try he 'll generally give up and take the pill . There are those times when he just won 't take it , no way , no how . Those are the times , when he starts trying to be sneaky . This morning , it appeared like we might be in for one of those times with his morning medicine . He came in from outside and I handed his pill to him . He turned his head . I tried again telling him that he liked this pill , so he yawned real big right over my hand , but did not take the pill . I think I was supposed to believe that he took it when he opened his mouth . But I was on to him , since the pill was still in my hand . I told him that I didn 't fall for it and tried one more time to get him to take the pill . This time he lapped it up from my hand much like he was getting a drink , then he spit it right back out , in to my hand . He 's a clever little thing . If he could just figure out how to spit the pill back out with out it going in to my hand , he might be on to something . Knowing that he was in a defiant mood , I let it go . I kept the pill with me waiting for an opportunity to spring it on him when his resistance was down . I tried again in a while . but once again he tried the fake take and the pill wound up right back in my hand . I wish I had a video of the process , because he really thought he 'd fooled me as he trotted off . This time , I let him think so . I went on about my business as he settled in to his ring bed to supervise . After about 30 minutes had passed . I left the room and he did too . He has this rule about following me around . I handed him the pill while his mind was on where I was going . He swallowed it and is now resting once again in his ring bed . We take Petey to the Berry Hill Animal Hospital . We have been pleased with everyone there from the veterinarians to the assistants , to the receptionist . Yes , even the receptionist knows Petey ! One of the doctors in particular , however , seems to have a special affinity for Petey . John and I try to request her whenever we need an appointment . Her name is Dr . Amanda Gansberger . John called her after the episode several weeks ago . After some discussion , they agreed to try Petey on a calming medication at night to help him rest . ( OK , to help us all rest . ) John and I felt like this was Petey 's last real chance at normalcy . And that if this didn 't work , we 'd have to make the hard decision that we 'd been delaying for so long . On August 1 , we gave Petey the first dose of the medicine and we all slept all night . It was amazing how much better all of us felt the next day . With the exception of one night , when Petey refused to take his medication , he has taken it every night and is much like his old self . And I do mean OLD as in old age . Then , one day last week , out of the blue , Dr . Gansberger called . She was calling simply to check on Petey . She wanted to make sure that the medication was working as she had anticipated and had other ideas if this didn 't seem to be working . I was so touched by her kindness that I cried as I told her that I thought Petey was better , but I still had some concern about his back legs / hips . She explained to me that Petey is 95 years old and is not going to be chasing squirrels no matter what . She and I discussed his daily activities , and she said they were very typical of a dog of his age and breed . John and I had already decided that his jumping days were over . We aren 't letting him on the couch or the bed . He can 't be trusted to let one of us help him down when he decides it is time . He has nice beds in the floor all around the house . He 's been OK with that for the most part . She gave me a lot of comfort that Petey was acting just like Petey should act . I think he 'll be with us for a while to come . Maybe he 'll make it to 100 , which is probably just February ! Petey is a drama dog . I had never ever realized there was such a thing until Petey came along . Some of my long time readers may remember that years ago I thought Petey was dying but he was far from it . That isn 't the only time Petey has been unwell somehow but we thought it was more extreme than it really was . Of course now , with his advanced age , we know that Petey 's days ahead with us are fewer than the days he 's already had with us . We 've had sad conversations about his end of life and when would we know it was time to let him go . Until the wee hours of the morning Sunday morning , Petey 's biggest problem was arthritis in his back hips . That seems to be managed well by medication . Of course , some days he 's perkier than others , but isn 't that true for all of us . We 've largely gotten over the peeing in the house phase . Turns out it wasn 't a medical / physical condition at all . Just a Petey condition . So , we really have not made any concrete decisions about the end of Petey 's life . In the wee hours of the morning Sunday morning , we thought our decision had been made . It started at about 1 : 30 am . Petey got John up to go out , which is typical except it is more like 5 : 00 am when he wants out . Petey took longer than he generally does outside , wandering through the back yard for a while . John stayed on the porch watching but didn 't really see every where he went or every thing he did . They came back inside . John went back to bed but Petey didn 't . Petey was very restless . He would walk in to the bathroom and get a big drink of water . Then he 'd come scratch around on his yellow blanket . Back to the bathroom , then on the bed , then the blanket . Around and around up and down he went until we were all exasperated . At about 2 : 30 I let him out . He went out for a quick run and when he came back I gave him 1 / 2 of one of his doggie downers . ( These are the same pills , I gave him before our lake trip . ) We had to get some rest . All three of us . Petey settled on his yellow blanket and we were dozing off when I heard some noise coming from the yellow blanket . I got up to find Petey , in a state . I wondered if he was having a stroke or maybe a seizure . His posture was strange and his eyes weren 't right . He had his lips back in a snarl with his remaining teeth bared . I was a little hesitant to touch him , afraid I 'd be bitten , but I couldn 't let him lie there in such distress . I picked him up and that calmed him some . He was rather limp ; his breathing eased but his eyes still weren 't right . I woke John up and told him I thought Petey was dying . We put him on the bed between us and he seemed to go to sleep . In just a few minutes though , he began almost panting ; taking very short , shallow breaths with his tongue hanging out only he was on his side with his eyes closed . John and I both thought the end was very near . We cuddled him and told him ' bye ' yet he kept on breathing and his heart was beating . We all settled again for another 15 - 20 minutes and then he began to thrash around . He managed to get to his belly and proceeded to puke all over the bed . We both thought this was indeed the end , yet he kept on breathing and his heart kept beating . We cleaned up the mess and laid there on the bed until morning and then we had to decide what to do . I had nursery duty at church and John had a class to teach . Since he was in no obvious distress , we decided that one of us would stay home from church so that he would not be alone when he died . We didn 't think a visit to the vet ER for the ' big shot ' was needed . He wasn 't going to last that much longer . He didn 't open his eyes when we touched him . I went to church and dismissed John 's class , explaining about Petey . Everyone was kind and understanding , even offering to stay in the nursery for me . I opted to stay , however . I wasn 't sure if I really wanted to be at home when Petey stopped breathing and his heard stopped beating . On the way home , I wondered if John would wait for me to bury him . I thought about how to dispose of his things . I wondered if we could donate his medicine to the shelter . While I was gone John shared that Petey had roused . He thought maybe Petey needed to go out , so he lifted him off of the bed to carry him outside . On the way to the back door , Petey had another episode and lost control of his bladder . John gently laid him on the back porch thinking that it would just be a matter of minutes now . Petey roused and wanted to go back in but couldn 't walk . John was fearful of carrying him , thinking that him picking the poor animal up , was what caused the latest episode . He quickly fashioned a stretcher for Petey and brought him back inside . I came home to find them both on the front bedroom bed . Petey more alert than he 'd been since I found him on the blanket in the night . As the day wore on , Petey gradually came back to us . His eyes got clearer and he was able to move around more . By bedtime , Sunday night , other than a slight limp which he has off & on , there was no way to tell anything had happened . Petey is the dog who cried death , much like the boy who cried wolf . John wondered had this happened during the week , would we have taken him to the vet rather than letting him peacefully die at home . If so , we could have let Petey go before his time . There was no way he was faking , but still we believed the situation to be far more dire than it was . Today , was a typical day for Petey . He moved a little slower , but it was a rainy morning which often creates a little more creakiness in his bones . And we all know his penchant for drama ! ! Petey is here for a while longer . As to how long ? Who knows ? * * * WARNING ! * * * This post is disgusting ! Anyone with a weak stomach should just keep going . On the other hand , 12 year old boys might think this is cool . Read on at your own risk . Last night John , Petey and I were enjoying some TV courtesy of Netflix . It was getting close to the end when John yelled out something along the lines of " Gross Petey ! " I looked over in time to see Petey puking in his ring bed . John immediately got up and got something to clean up the mess . Before he could get back with the paper towels Petey was eating the puke . Again , John yelled out something like " That 's disgusting ! " I was not saying anything because I was trying not to toss my cookies ! John starts talking about how that is in the Bible like that will make me not hurl . I managed to squeak out that I didn 't think Petey read the Bible . We finished the show . Petey got in the bed and I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth . When I came out , I saw Petey licking his paws . Nothing unusual there . Not until , I got closer and saw that he was once again eating upchuck . I ran screaming from the room , calmly called for John , managed not to puke and summoned John to the room . We decided the best thing to do would be just remove the comforter where Petey happened to be when the deed was done , and wash it in the morning . I realized I would be too chilly without a little extra cover , so we got the single size comforter from the middle bedroom . I snuggled down to read a bit while John rinsed out the cloth he 'd used to wipe off the comforter . Before John was finished , Petey once again returned his stomach contents . This time , I really did gag , and covered my head while John forcibly kept Petey from reingesting the foul matter yet again ! ! John and I generally start packing the night before coming home when on a trip . It saves time and panic in the morning to have the non - essentials ready to go . So , as per our usual pattern we began putting away things that we were not going to need in the morning . It seemed very normal to us , but not to Petey . Pete got more and more agitated as the evening progressed . The more things we packed the more he paced . He was circling the cabin like a little white streak in no time at all . We wondered if he was upset and didn 't want to leave since he was having such a good time , not counting the boat part . We also wondered if he was afraid that we were abandoning him . We decided on the former . Surely , the dog knew we were taking him home . I decided the thing to do would be to give him 1 / 2 pill of his doggie dope . He 's pretty good at taking pills now . Most of the time , I just hold it in front of him and he eats it . When that doesn 't work I get out the peanut butter or just poke it in his mouth where some of his teeth used to be . Lacking peanut butter on this trip , my only option was the poke it in method . Only it didn 't work . Petey learned to spit somewhere along the line . It took no less than five tries to cram that pill down his throat . The thing with Pete is , we have to remain calm . If John or I gets upset with him he freaks out all the more . So , I am trying to use a soothing voice when I tell him that he 's going to take this pill or else . I 'm gently stroking him as I try to pry his clenched jaws open . I finally prevail . Petey swallowed the pill . I 'm hoping that he 'll be mellow by bed time and sleep through the night . My hopes were dashed . At bed time , Petey was as keyed up as ever . Actually , we decided to go to bed early since he was so freaked out , hoping that would calm him . Perhaps , if we 'd waited another 30 or 45 minutes to go to bed he would have been calmer , but I doubt it . The bed was pushed against the wall on one side . I tried to keep Petey between me and the wall , but he would have none of it . If he couldn 't pace the cabin , he 'd pace the bed . Over and over we used our soothing voices to try and calm him . It didn 't work . We tried to calm him by petting him gently but he would jerk away from our hands . Finally , he jerked away from a soothing pat and fell off the bed . Somehow , he managed to fall in such a way that his left legs were between the bed rail and the mattress and his right legs were on the other side of the bed rail . He was straddling the bed rail and he was hurt . It had to have hurt . He hit his underside on the narrow edge of the bed rail . He set up a wail the likes of which I 'd never heard from him . Of course John and I were right there to rescue him in mere moments . But Petey always panics first . John managed to ease him out rather quickly and held him in his lap to feel the damage and try and calm him . Petey had no apparent injuries , but that did not matter to Petey . He had to shudder and carry on , while John snuggled him . Then he peed in John 's lap . Yes , Petey peed all over John and the sheets our last night of the trip . Cleaning up pee was not the way we intended to spend our last night of vacation . ( Truth be told , we thought that we 'd be cleaning it up all week ! ) We finally all settled down to sleep . Petey was curled up against John and would not move . John didn 't sleep so well because whenever he moved Petey was sure to be next to him . It was like they were attached . At least no one fell out of the bed any more that night . John and I had resigned ourselves to not taking a vacation this year . There were several very good reasons for this , not the least of which being Petey . He is just too much to be left with anyone . He is beyond high maintenance now . We could not leave him with anyone knowing the damage he would likely cause . We also knew that boarding him would be a death sentence for him . He would not endure such as that . A couple of weeks ago , however , John ran across a pet friendly lake resort . The prices , even with the pet fee , were very reasonable . It was a gamble on a lot of levels to take Petey to an unknown place . Just going to a place sight unseen is a gamble in and of itself . Adding Petey is a whole new dimension . We knew already that he is bad in the car . We knew already that he does not like water . Yet we forged ahead . We ( I ) gave Petey 1 1 / 2 of his doggie Valium before heading out the morning of our trip . He fights it so much , that I started about 2 hours before time to leave , giving him small doses at a time . I was hoping the effect would sneak up on him and he 'd be asleep by time to leave . That didn 't happen . He was pretty mellow for most of the ride . The trip was just over 2 hours driving time , and he finally conked out just before arriving . John was fearful that I 'd overdosed the dog and kept asking if he was still breathing . He was . We got to the lake and found a sweet little family run area that was much like taking a step back in time . No cell phones , no wifi , but there were pay phones , more than one . The cabins were built in the early 1950 's . That is him in the boat trying to hide . Otherwise , he did seem to enjoy himself until the last night of the trip . That is a post for another day . In the meantime , here are a couple of shots of the lake and Petey from our week . I have a niece I 'll call Miss A . I love her very much . She lives in another state so we don 't get to see very much . Usually two or three times per year is all we get to see her , but we text or email almost every day . I love hearing from her . She always asks about Petey . Sometimes I go to her house and sometimes she comes to mine . Petey only sees her when she is at my house . He doesn 't like to travel . He never has . We 've tried to take him places but it just doesn 't work out . When Miss A comes to our house she always gives Petey treats . He likes that . He doesn 't like most people , but he likes her . Maybe it is because of the treats or maybe it is because she always asks about him . It could be that he likes her Mom . Petey jumped in her lap the first time he met her ; one of about 3 people he 's taken to right away . ( The other two are not me and John . ) He bit my other sister the first time he met her . She may be the only person he 's actually bitten . Most of the time he just growls and barks . Anyway , Miss A is coming to my house in a couple of months . I have already told Petey so he can look forward to seeing her too . We can 't wait ! We will have a lot of fun when she is here . Apparently , Petey got hot during the night . When we got up the yellow blanket had been dragged away from the radiator and the fan had been knocked over . Petey was laying on the yellow blanket with the fan blowing on him . Of course he got up before I could get a picture . He was closer to the fan and asleep this morning . When this picture was taken , I think he was mad that I was messing with his stuff . He gets territorial sometimes . Yes , that is a radiator with a fan blowing the warm air on to Petey as he rests on his yellow blanket . I know , I know . . . we indulge the dog . Believe me , everyone is happier when Petey is happy . It is a small price to pay . It is a long established habit on my ( Lori ) part to take a Sunday afternoon nap . Petey accompanies me due to a very strict rule on his part that no one naps alone . A typical Sunday is for us to come home from church and I nap fairly quickly after that . Often we find Petey asleep when we get home but due to his aforementioned very strict rule he still naps with me . Today , however , was slightly different . I had a little project that I needed to move along . So , I worked on it rather than heading straight for the bed . I knew I would only be 20 or 30 minutes later getting to snooze - town and would get a full nap in . But , I forgot to tell Petey . Petey did not like this arrangement . Petey was ready for a nap and didn 't care who knew . He was quite persistent in coming to get me and then going to the bed . He did this several times and each time I explained that I would be there a little later . He could not wait . Petey is still waking us me up multiple times per night to go out or get in the bed with us . John has tried talking to him . As silly as it sounds , sometimes that seems to help . Or at least it has helped enough times that we think it is worth a try . It didn 't work this time . Then I remembered that in the Bible it says that man should have dominion over the animals , so I read that to him . Still didn 't work . So , now I continue to be sleep deprived because this dog is becoming nocturnal and wants company . The other night Petey was trying to wake John up . He was on John 's side of the bed scratching . Or at least I 'm guessing that is what was happening . Being unsuccessful at waking John up the typical way he flung himself in to the side of the bed , shaking the whole bed . It is amazing what a little 12 pound dog can do . The jolt woke me right up . BUT , since he was not trying to wake me up , I didn 't move . I was glad John had finally rotated to the top of the order and would once again be on nighttime duty . As a lay there as still and quiet as possible , I heard Petey go in to the bathroom and get a drink . The bathroom floor is tile and he does not try to be quiet with his walking or drinking . After he finished drinking , I heard him clicking around on the tile and then the very distinct sound of water running . Since Petey does not have thumbs , I was pretty sure he hadn 't turned the water on , but was peeing in the bathroom floor . I stayed put a while longer but then the guilt overcame me and I decided to clean up the pee . I had this idea that John would get up in the night and step in it causing a much worse ruckus than me just simply cleaning it up right then . I got the flashlight and crept in to the bathroom to do my penance . Only there was no pee . I couldn 't find it anywhere . Of course , me getting out of bed signaled to Petey that I was up for his benefit . I let him out doubting that he really needed to pee but was unsure since I didn 't find any in the house . Often when he goes out at night and does not need to pee , he stays out a long time just milling around . He peed , so it was a quick trip . Once I returned to the bedroom I looked for pee but still didn 't find any . I got back in the bed alone since Petey had opted to stay in the living room . Just about the time I got settled , he realized that we were in the bed all warm and cozy and he was not . He decided to join us . So , I got up again and put him in the bed again . The next morning , I warned John about the mystery pee but he didn 't find any either . As I was getting dressed I began to wonder if I 'd hallucinated the whole thing . I sat down to put my shoes on when I saw the puddle . It was at the foot of the bed , right in John 's path around the bed . I don 't know how he missed it . Now , the bedroom is carpeted so it wasn 't so much a puddle as it was a dark area . Petey must have come out of the bathroom but I didn 't realize it . Neither John nor I peed at the foot of the bed in the floor . I cleaned it up and Petey walked in just as I was finishing . I explained to him that he should have peed in the bathroom not on the carpet . He looked right at me and peed . Right there , right then , he peed ! Whoever said that old dogs can 't learn new tricks never met Petey . He may resist change that he doesn 't like but he is quite adaptable in those situations that he likes . For instance , he adapted quite well when I ( Lori ) started working from home . More company = good thing for Pete . So , he can be a very quick study when he likes the change . The latest example happened with my mother stayed with us . She 'd been hospitalized and needed to recover here for a few weeks . The first night she was here , we put Petey in the bed with us so that he would not bother her . He wasn 't so sure about her . He wasn 't aggressive towards her , but she was in his place on the couch . This required him to pace around the house . We weren 't sure how he 'd react when she stayed all night . Let me state now , that closing doors is not an option with Pete . That is like an engraved invitation to enter . He will not rest until the door is opened . We thought Petey would sleep with us and all would be well . Petey did sleep with us for a few hours . Then he got up . He needed to patrol the house . He spent the rest of the night , while he wasn 't patrolling on a blanket beside the bed . Mama said he came in an looked at her a time or two but never bothered her , of course we weren 't aware of this until the next day . In the wee hours of the morning he got a very bad itch . He had to scratch and gnaw repeatedly at the offending area . I was concerned that he 'd wake up the entire household , so I got up and put him back in the bed with us . That calmed his itch and everyone went back to sleep . The next night , Petey was happy that the three of us were all in the bed together once again . And in the wee morning hours when the bad itch started , I put him back in the bed . That was all it took . Ever since that time Petey has started the night with us and finished it with us . Never mind that my mother has gone home . In fact , Petey pretty much comes and goes as he pleases during the night . He isn 't a bad sleeping companion once he gets settled . There are two issues associated with this new trick Petey has learned : First Petey can 't get in the bed by himself . He has decided that I am the person to get up and put him in the bed . He 's figured out how to get down most of the time without my help . I often don 't even wake up . This wouldn 't be so bad if it was at bedtime and very early in the morning , but it has morphed in to three or four times a night .