fbpx

Check out our new merch today!

February 1, 2016

The Art of The Dog Pile

A sleeping dog is a blissful thing. It’s often difficult to tell where the dog ends and the furniture begins Eko and Penny seem to be without a care in the world when they nap But despite the carefree exterior, the pups do follow an established set
A sleeping dog is a blissful thing.

It’s often difficult to tell where the dog ends and the furniture begins

Eko and Penny seem to be without a care in the world when they nap

But despite the carefree exterior, the pups do follow an established set of rules when napping on the couch together. I’m not quite sure how these rules were formed, but I know both parties understand and agree to the same terms.

The first rule of nap club is that rear-end to rear-end naps are always acceptable

Eko happily lets Penny use him as a pillow, but it’s a one way street. He never rests his head on her. And for some reason, they both refuse to sleep head-to-head

The trouble is that when Penny’s pillow needs to scratch his ear it clears the couch and means the nappers must adjust their arrangement

Most of this dog-pile-choreography takes care of itself, but occasionally it does require my intervention. I’ll hear a low pitched whine when the pups get “stuck” in negotiations.

They freeze in place like it’s a standoff. They’re both unsure of exactly where to go in order to meet the terms of their napping arrangement 

After a couple minutes of laughing to myself and watching their telepathic negotiations, I step in and mediate

I shepherd the pups in place and then they are once again a picture of bliss

Who knew napping could be so exhausting?

If you have multiple pets, do they have any particular terms about their sleeping arrangements?

Comments for The Art of The Dog Pile

  1. it’s an annoying moment when the pillow wants to scatch its ears or when it starts to lick his feet :o)

  2. KDKH says:

    At my house, juggling two cats and four dogs, it is always, always about politics, placement, and standing. Exhausting at times.

  3. Connie Taylor says:

    Like your pups, ours will sleep butt to butt and head to butt, but never head to head! Riley really enjoys a few blankets on him (he’s 9 1/2 years old) and I think the cold bothers him more. Bentley isn’t too particular if she has a blanket or not. She does like to be covered up when she first goes to bed at night, but then is on top of the bed later. She prefers to be in the vicinity of Riley during nap time, he could car less. However, they both go to bed at night at the same time.

  4. Emmadog says:

    Mom says those two remind her of college kids with all the blankets on the couch, just hanging out. We hang out in our dog beds or certain areas in some rooms.

  5. Naps…a great way to rejuvenate so as to better charge the world.

  6. Ogee says:

    Bella gets Daddy’s lap; Jackson gets whatever is left over. That’s OK. All toys apparently belong to Jackson. 🙂

  7. dashlilly says:

    Hilarious! Dash and Lilly often share the couch. Andy, yep Lilly (the younger one) will sometimes put her head on Dash’s rump area but Lilly never “hosts” Dash. Last night I will admit that I muted the television to listen to Dash snoring. Lilly joined me in listening. What is it that makes a sleeping dog so absolutely precious?

  8. Schnauzer Mom says:

    My two would take turns, one will lay next to me on the couch, the other will nap on the other end. After a while, they would switch spots. They did they the same with their meals and chew bones. At night it was always a race to see who would get the spot in bed behind my knees, the other would sleep snuggled up to my back.

    We lost one of our girls to cancer a couple of months ago, the other is lost without her.

    She is convinced the cats will steal her chew bones, so she still hides them 🙂

  9. So funny. Jack and Maggie don’t sleep together AT ALL, so I don’t have this negotiation issue, but I remember it from Sally & Tino as they were both couch potatoes…and had similar stand-offs – although Sally usually just did whatever the hell she wanted and Tino be damned. I remember if Tino was in a spot she wanted she would stand over him and stare at him until he moved. We called her the Queen of the Princesses.

  10. Elyse says:

    That is not what I think of when I see the words “dog pile.”

  11. Kismet says:

    We don’t care how they pile on each other just as long as there are no piles on the floor.

  12. The only steadfast rule with Neeka and Khoi is, under no circumstances, can Khoi rest any part of his body on Neeka. That includes the tip of a toenail. She is not a snuggle puppy. When they do touch, usually when both are fast asleep, Neeka will wake and retreat to her couch. Khoi never, ever sleeps on that couch (we brought it home with my daughter when she graduated from Tennessee and no human can sit comfortably on it. Don’t ask why we still have it except Neeka would be distraught if it suddenly disappeared). Khoi will then curl into a ridgeball next to (or on) any available human. He loves contact. We have pictures of he and his litter mates all piled on top of each other. Too cute.

  13. If Molly, is sleeping, no one is allowed to walk within 3 feet of her on her sleeping area. If they do, they get growlies and snarlies. If I am sleeping, Macy AND Molly BOTH think it’s okay to lay on top of me so I will move and they can have Mom all to themself. When Macy is not being a nuisance, Molly likes to sleep on one end of the couch and I like to sleep on the other end. Usually Macy ruins it all though. *ear licks* Noodle

  14. realappetite says:

    Atlas is a firm believer in “move your feet, lose your seat.”
    Last night I got up for 2 mins and he’d taken over so much of the couch when I got back that I had to toss a treat on the floor to reclaim my spot. Much easier to convince a 90-lb dog to get up himself than to try to move him myself!

  15. Joan says:

    In our home there is a nightly ritual I like to refer to as, the Stars & Moon are aligned. I have my chair, my husband has his end of the couch, Buddy gets the other end. Sadie likes the recliner. If someone is visiting or one of us humans is in the wrong seat, there is a lot of eyeballing by the pups until we move. Alas, the stars & moon are aligned!

  16. Itchy ears can be a problem during nap time. Sometimes when I’m asleep in Mom’s bed, I get an itchy ear, start scratching it, and end up scratching Mom’s leg instead. Sometimes, I can’t tell where I end and she begins….

    Live and licks,
    Cupcake

  17. They are sooo cute! The only rule mine have is lets take up as much of the bed as we can before she gets in 😉

  18. Jo Rhodes says:

    In our house two things are a must for a dog pile to occur. 1. I must be at the bottom of said pile (I’m more than ok with this) and 2. blankets.
    Enjoy your naps!

  19. The blanket monsters, they crack me up.

  20. fran godwin says:

    Beautiful, just beautiful eko n penny

  21. Donna says:

    Yes! Axel was here first and use to being the one and only. However he loves to play more than anything…even eating. So when he was 8 months old, here come 6 month old Ariel. He thought I had gotten her just for him….a real live toy to play all he wanted. He loves loves loves her….all day…until bedtime. He decides to make sure she knows she can not sleep at the top of the bed on the pillow beside me. That is only OK for him. Well, Ariel put up with this rule for about 3 months. One night, she decided she could sleep anywhere she wanted. And she did….. Being that Axel is really a big wuss he pouted, huffed and puffed, whined and….decided he would now start sleeping under the covers pressed up against me. His entire head must be completely covered…all night. That’s the way it is every night now…..all it works.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Follow Us on Instagram

@markingourterritory