My Sleepy Bear

Charlotte (AKA...my little bear) is rather sleepy today. To me, this is a gigantic blessing. We have been working diligently on what it means to not pee in the house, how to walk on a leash and appropriate room edict. In other words, not licking, chewing or biting everything that even slightly resembles grass, sticks or her play toys: carpet, chords, the "boot cut" feature on my pants, socks, calculators, my stamp collection, oh how the list goes on. To give her credit she is an exceptional puppy, but honestly, I am whooped and have been craving a day like today.
To paint you a picture: Charlotte always goes outside 5 or 10 minutes after a meal...she is like clockwork and does her duty. After that, we take a walk to release some of that puppy energy. Once we get home, we spend some time playing, then (when behaving) she can follow me around the house as I go about my business, and a bit later, she goes back into her crate for a little nap. Well...today she has absolutely no motivation what-so-ever for any of the above except for napping. She will eat and then fall asleep by the time I get her to take her outside. She is rather resistant to the idea of peeing, and seems her preference is to hold it as long as possible (you know you have done this on a really cold morning while all comfy in your bed). Unfortunately for Charlotte, I know better, and insist that she follows me outside. When she finally straggles out of her crate, she looks like the worse bed head you have ever seen, but ALL over her body. With her hair is every which way, her slow blinking and straggling manor, I can't help but laugh...as this is such a perfect picture to a really, really tired and out of it human. After 3 or 4 full body stretches she finally makes it outside, squats in instant she is one the gravel, and heads back inside. Sometimes I wonder if she is even awake or just sleep walking. After that hugely laborious task, she straggles back inside to her crate, plops down and is sleeping again in 2 seconds. I have a feeling it must be growth spurt day and she needs all the rest she can get to keep up with her body working hard.
Today is the first day she has had the privilege to sit along side me in the office as I work. Typically she is chewing at random things (this is not a puppy safe room - too many small objects to chew on, not to mention the carpet that looks like grass...bad for many reasons). My favorite part is when I reach down to give her a little pet, she makes these really small squeaking sounds...as if to say..."Wow Andi...do you really have to interrupt my slumber...I was getting so cozy." Just now I tried to call her over to sit by me. From 5 feet away, I got a glance, a sigh and an immediate full body sprawl on the floor, eyes shut. Her back legs are fully extended behind her rear end and front legs tucked under her head. She looks like a real person laying on a couch. Amazing. Unfortunately Nick has the camera so I can't post a shot of her body position right now...but there will be many more opportunities...I am sure of it!