Wednesday, August 07, 2013

Right Where She's Meant to Be

We've been having issues in this house... old dog issues. I haven't wanted to write about it. That makes it real. But Miss Mabel came back from Granny's house, where the bed is just above knee high and suddenly had issues getting in our almost hip high bed! She has fallen several times and I have cried many nights.

Many moons ago, I wrote of the stairs I purchased for Mabel. It turns out, they flip over if she doesn't hit the exact center of the step! This doesn't exactly encourage her to keep trying! Just when I get to start using them! Angry and frustrated, I took them to our hiking buddy Chloe's dad. He's a master carpenter. I gave him some specs but knew it would be quite a while before I saw a heavy wood version.

I came home and got to work. I found a heavy milk crate that would hold Mabel's weight. I got a carpet scrap from my neighbor's carpet store and some carpet tape secured the rug to the bottom of the crate. That worked fine...until the afternoon I came home from teaching and found it over-turned and Mabel being "weird."

The next day, I hit our magical thrift store again. I found a lovely small ottoman for $10. She puts her front paws up there and I lift her hind legs onto the step and from there, she gets onto the bed. Not ideal but I'm trying to make do until our wood ones show up. Still, I came home one hot afternoon and found Mabel in bed all by herself! But I know she is skittish getting up there without me.

Cut to: last night... I taught a late and rare weeknight class. When I got home at 10:30, I was almost afraid of what I would find. Would Mabel have put herself to bed??? It was chilly on the porch...she wasn't there. I walked in the back door and ...no Mabel in the two dogs beds in the living room. I was overjoyed that she may be in bed! I started down the hall when a movement caught my eye! There she was, right in the middle of the fainting couch!


Pardon the old pic...didn't have my phone handy! I wish I could show you her sweet, sleepy face and the joy that washed over it when she realized I was home!  I was so happy to find her there.

And I had to laugh... She has not got up on the fainting couch all by herself since she was a puppy and I used to scold her for that! (Before she trained me!) But when I bought that sofa at the thrift store, I made a big deal of telling her it was HER sofa! And she listened.

It reminded me of the time I gave my Maggie May her very own futon in the laundry room where she could have access to the indoors and a/c while I worked. For a solid month after I told Maggie the futon was hers, she dutifully took every human and canine that visited us back to the laundry room to show them her furniture!

And I'm sure if you popped by here, Mabel would share her fainting couch with you...

9 comments:

Cindy Lynne Glass Designs said...

Getting old is hard on us all Mabel Lou, Im glad your mommy bought you your very own fainting couch. Now Mr. Handyman lets get those steps built k?! :-)

♥♥ The OP Pack ♥♥ said...

We all hope the new steps arrive soon, but in the meantime you are so good to leep trying to find safe ways for Mabel to get on the bed. AND she is very lucky because we aren't even allowed in the bedroom, never mind on the bed.

Woos - Phantom, Ciara, and Lightning

Millie and Walter said...

I think Mabel is very smart to use the fainting couch. I hope you get the steps soon too.

Cindy

rottrover said...

Mabel, mom just lifts me onto the bed. Obviously my mom's a lot more trainable than yours! BOL!!

-Bart

Blueberry's human said...

Blueberry uses an old ottoman for the bed, stairs for the couch and the milk crate for getting in and out of the car. I love all those ideas! Thankfully - none of them have upended on her though otherwise I'm sure she wouldn't want to use them anymore either. Hope that master carpenter gets done with the stairs soon! It's so hard on an older dog when they want to much to be on the furniture but can't quite make the jump anymore. :(

Ruby said...

Oh Mabel! Ma says gettin' old isn't funs either....hehehe sorry, that was for Ma, not you.
I'm so glads your Moms is gettin' some solid steps for you, butts looks like you are makin' the most of your choices til they come!!
Kisses,
Ruby ♥

Linda@VS said...

She's such a sweet old girl! When Butch and Kadi were very old, it broke my heart when they no longer even tried to get up on my bed. Because of that, I've never let the new boys get up there. I know what we're missing, but I don't ever want them to know it.

Pat Wahler said...

Luckily for me, Indy is small enough that I can lift him into the bed. As someone else said, getting old isn't easy for any of us.

Pat
Critter Alley

Mollie said...

It's so sad watching our baby's get older but you are doing all the right things :) Love Mabels fainting chair, I would love to share it with her :) xx00xx

Mollie and Alfie