Cold noses and wet eyeballs

[Sam I Am]

Every morning I remember why I love Jock and the breed that he is. Rain, snow or shine, every morning I get woken up by Jock and he has a few tricks up that hairy sleeve to accomplish his mission. The first one is the tapping of the his leg on the bed sheet beside me, the next is sitting on my chest, pressing his face up to mine, licking my nose and tickling me with his whiskers. However, the one that makes me laugh every morning is when he ever so gently presses that ice cold wet nose,precisely into my closed eyeball. He knows this will always get a reaction.. a good one may I add... me laughing

Would love to hear from others how they get woken up!

[Idaho Cairns]

My two are pretty lazy in the morning and will stay asleep until I wake up but if my wife gets up before me, as she does quite often, makes coffee and lets the dogs out, they will come back to bed and crawl in and go back to sleep with me.

Sammi never disturbs me while I am sleeping but Bonnie, if she thinks I need to be up and about, will occasionally start snuffling about my scalp with that half snort half sniffle of hers until I wake up. She and I have this little morning ceremony that she seems to enjoy, called "Reach for the sky!" where I rub her belly while she stiffens and stretches to the max--throwing her her front paws way past her nose and pushing her hind legs back as far as she can. She wants about five of these stretches before she is ready to jump up, shake her hair into place and meet the day.

Our mornings are quite routine around here--once I am up with my coffee, Sammi waits at the recliner until I sit down and has to spend about a half an hour laying on the arm, half in my lap while I read the paper or get on the laptop--it is her only demand of me--that short time sleeping in the chair and I indulge her even tho it makes for some difficult surfing as I have to use my left hand to manipulate the mouse.

Of all the dogs I have owned, my Cairns are the most regimented when if comes to interactive behavior with humans--once they develop a "habit", it stays in place and is as predictable as the sunrise. Once ingrained, the behaviors don't change and that is what makes my Cairns easy to live with--you know their routines and they know yours, rarely any surprises with these dogs.

[Hawkeye]

We have three dog beds scattered about our bedroom and the three of them sleep in their beds during the night. It varies from night to night who gets which one, but Bailey tries very hard for the one next to mommy. Although Radar tries to jump up on the bed to sleep with us we keep making him sleep in his bed during the night. But the wee hours of the morning is different. Radar jumps into bed around 5:30am and will snuggle in between us and just sleep - hoping we won't notice him. Then when the alarm goes off Bailey will perch himself on the edge of the bed to remind us it's potty time and Radar will start sniffing around our heads. Poor Casey - we have to wake her and tell her it's time to live another day.

Then the day begins!

[janis]

Kirby either sleeps on his bed in our room or his ottaman in the living room. If he gets up before we do, he shakes really hard and his tags sound like bells. Then he stretches out almost crawling to the bed and we do the "STRETCH" and belly rub with leg massage for about 5 minutes. He rolls over, stretches, yawns - makes quite a production of it. Some times I get a kiss on the nose for my efforts!

[josie&holly]

Holly is a lazy girl. She sleeps in her bed next to mine. I wake up, switch light on and look over the bed at her - she will lift her head and look at me as if to say "oh, its you" and then put it down and go back to sleep until I open the curtains. Then she will get out of bed, we go to top of stairs and she does her stretches and shakes before I get her downstairs!

The only time she wakes me up is if she is not well and needs to get out quick! She will try to climb up bed and shakes bedding and squeaks at me - then I wake in panic because I know she in distress.

[lindasue]

Pegi takes turns sleeping with my 17 year old daughters. They actually keep track of who's turn it is. She doesn't even move until she hears my voice down the hall. When I go into either bedroom she's sitting up, waiting for me. I have to pick her up off the bed (they are both very high, which is a good thing as she can't jump off in the middle of the night!). She runs down the hall, peaking into all rooms to see where the girls or DH is. Then a quick run around the living room (she saw a mouse in their last fall, and has to make sure it's not back), a long stretch and shake, and she's ready to go out to do her business.

When she comes in it's a straight line for the recliner in the den to check out the neighborhood!

These dogs do follow a set schedule - Pegi is the same every day!

[pindrop]

great topic Terrier Lover - I love to read what morning habits each dog has but added to that we learn a little bit more about the actual owners and theirs as well.

I really don't have much to add to this as Layla is still very young and sleeps in her crate. I can't wait till she can sleep on our bed but for now the crate it is. However, she is the one that wakes me with a cry (long before the alarm goes off) - I whip out of bed, and open the crate door - to be met with a wagging tail and lots of licks. Then together we walk down the hall to the living room - Oldfox is always up around 5 am so she waddles over to him to give him licks while I quickly thrown on a coat and boots (can hardly wait till summer.) Out she goes for a quick business trip and back inside to eat breakfast - then back to sleep for an hour. She may be young but she has her little habits already.

[BetsyNoodle]

This IS a great topic, Terrier Lover! Every morning, in that woozy state between unconsciousness and and wakefulness, I suddenly become aware that someone is 'eyeballing' me. When he sees I am awake, he belly crawls (my DH calls it the Cairn 'combat' crawl) up to my face and kisses me. Then, if that doesn't work, he drapes all 22 pounds of himself across my stomach, and waits....it's my favorite part of my day.

What you said, Idaho, is spot on. I tell my husband that Murphy is as constant as the Northern star. He does the exact same thing every single morning!! I once saw a dog trainer on television talking about Cairns on that show "Dogs 101". He said once you train a Cairn to do something, they never forget it. Pretty interesting.

[jodi0553]

I really enjoy reading what dogs who do not qualify as "laziest dog in the world" do in the morning! Thank you all for your cute stories!

I have the laziest dog in the world, but he does have some funny nighttime habits. He goes to bed at the foot of the bed smack in the center on his blanket. However, each night, through the night, he inches up the bed - usually about halfway - and snuggles up to DH as tight as he can. DH is still not accustomed to a dog in the bed (Currey started sleeping in the bed with me alone about 3 years ago when DH moved cross country ahead of me and it was just me and the dog for about a month) but the dog just LOVES to snuggle with him. I'd love it, but apparently I'm not snuggly enough!

Anyway, to the odd waking up routine. If DH isn't in the bed, between 4 and 5 AM, Currey will almost always wake up in a panic. He stands on top of my body shaking like he is just terrified or comes to the top of the bed and urgently paws at my hand. For some reason, he's very worried that one of his humans has just vanished, but reacts in no way if I'm missing from the bed! I've finally figured out that if I crate him, he'll go back to sleep till a reasonable hour. Beyond that, he has no morning ritual, besides being forced to go out when the first person gets up and grunting loudly at his displeasure of being woken. After his morning potty, it is back directly to sleep till at least noon on weekends, or till after work on weekdays. Laziest dog in the world...

[hheldorfer]

5:00 a.m.: I awaken before Buffy and Ziggy who, at some point during the night, have taken over the lower 1/3 of the bed on my side, pinning my legs in the process. DH snores peacefully. We have a very small bedroom, so my side of the bed is against a wall. With moves that a contortionist would envy I extricate my legs and climb over the dogs, placing hands and feet in whatever space is available and taking care not to disturb DH. I inevitably disturb the two terriorists who grumble their displeasure as I free myself from the covers.

I close the bedroom door and proceed to the kitchen to start the coffee. Once settled in front of my computer, coffee in hand, I relax and read my e-mails. Within minutes I hear rustling in the bedroom, then a ka-thump as Buffy jumps off the bed. She allows me about 30 seconds to get to the door and open it or she proceeds to paw the door vigorously, causing a racket as the old door rattles. She trots past me on her way to the back door, giving me a glance as if to say "You kept me waiting!". I let her out, she does her business (requiring a treat, of course) and then sacks out in her dog bed next to my computer.

Ziggy will stay in bed as long as possible and only jumps down if it's a four-alarm pee emergency. When I'm done with my shower and getting dressed, this signals walk time. Out of nowhere, the two dogs who were dead to the world seconds earlier are now herding me to the back door. God help me during the winter, because they don't like waiting for mommy to put on her coat, boots, scarves, etc. and signal their impatience by dancing around the kitchen and whimpering.

Post-walk, they resume napping and I go to work. What a life!

[Tuesday]

We were just discussing Murphy's "habits" last night. He is a very routine driven dog.

Murphy sleeps in his own box, in his own room, on the other side of the house. While I would LOVE to have his warm fuzzy self in the bed, on the very few occasions we've tried this, the Crazy Cairn Something Moved Outside Bark out of nowhere at 2 am is not very good for heart health.

He goes to his box, he decompresses, and everyone sleeps well.

Our routine though is that he has to cuddle in our bed (read - take over the lower half of the bed) for a little while before bedtime. When he's settled, one of us will ask him, "Murphy, are you ready for bed?" and you'll see nothing but fuzzy butt rounding the corner headed to his room.

(as an aside as to how smart these little dogs are, DH and I over the years have found that all problems and dilemmas can be solved with Rock, Paper, Scissors. We do this sometimes to see who would follow Murphy to his kennel and tuck him in with a cookie. The dog caught on to this after just a few nights, and when by the time we finish our game - best our of 3 round - Murphy is waiting by his box)

Weekday mornings DH gets up first, takes the boy out, then releases him on me. This release can be full on what we call "Murphy Love" which you get the licks, the nibbles, the snuffling of hair, which can and usually is encouraged by the other person, and literally takes your breath away it's so crazy, or you can get what I call the Cairn Breath Check. He'll stick his snout very close, like wet nose on my face close, to my mouth and nose to see if I am breathing. After the breathing check or Murphy Love, he settles down on my legs for a quick 10 minute nap or Crazy Cairn Barking if something thinks of moving in the neighborhood that he can hear.

[Dempsy's Mom]

Dempsy is not a morning dog. Could care less if he interacts with us in the morning. He sleeps at the bottom of the bed and we are up way before he stirs - he waddles down the stairs with us, goes to the back entry, has a little sip of water and crawls into his plush pillow awaiting him in his crate. We watch the morning news, then after we eat (which always amazes me that he doesn't come out while we are eating) he will stumble out, stretch his gorgeous little body as much as his muscles will allow and be ready for his morning outting. He is a morning deadhead. Love his guts.

[BetsyNoodle]

I just wanted to add a little tribute to my late beloved little blond Cairn mix, Betsy Noodle. Every single morning, she woke up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, as my Grandmother used to say. If kissing me on the face didn't wake me up, she would do a little 'tap dance' on my chest with her front paws, and yodel "WooWooWoo" repeatedly until I got out of bed! I would give anything to be able to hear that sweet sound just one more time...

[Islander]

Gus is one of the lazy ones...for his 2nd birthday I got him a very deluxe dog bed which is right next to mine. He loves it so much he will sometimes go upstairs to bed before me! I often call him up into bed with me in the morning; he likes that too but doesn't jump up without an invitation (funny though, he doesn't wait for an invite at my boyfriend's place). Whether he is in my bed or his own, he doesn't stir when I get up and go downstairs, make coffee, etc. It is only when he hears the snap of his dog food container open that he appears, tail wagging, totally alert!

[2littleterrors]

Hollie and Kenzie have both taken to sleeping in my son's room. When we wake him for school in the morning, Hollie is raring to go. Dancing around, excited as can be. Kenzie, on the other hand, might just qualify as the second laziest dog in the world. She stays snuggled up on his bed until someone picks her up and brings out. All the while she is giving us a death look, clearly communicating that it's cold out there and her bed is super warm. If we release them out at the same time, both girls will do their super jump off the deck and take off up the back walk. But Kenzie will be back at the door, shivering (she's quite the actress) within a couple of minutes. As soon as you let her back in, she goes and finds somewhere warm to curl up, and will stay there until you make her go back outside.

[kjwarnold]

Kirby sleeps on a chair in the bedroom and as soon as he knows we're ready to head downstairs, he's up and ready to go. Funny how he knows if we need to take longer on some mornings, like if it's Sunday and we're getting ready for church. In those cases, he stays in his chair until we're ready. Packy is not a morning dog. He sleeps on the bed with us (plastered to my leg) and if we let him, he'd stay on the bed until 10:00 a.m.! Once he gets going though, he gets downstairs before us and then barks at the door, like it was his idea to get up and go out.