Paws In The Sand

Goldie never had to share his home with a cat. So we never had this problem of a cat stealing his bed!  However he was never quite sure about cats really.  He would watch the neighbourhood cats as they sat grooming themselves on our fence or sauntered slowly past the glass patio doors without a care in the world.  The cats would just look down at him in a somewhat superior fashion and he would look at them slightly panting and often drooling! His great banner of a tail slightly waving in an uncertain manner. This could go on for half an hour at a time sometimes.  He would look at me as if to say well what am I supposed to do with that !  He never barked or tried  to chase them.  Of course it may have been different if they had tried to get in his bed!  

Goldie came to our home at about 3pm one Saturday. We let him roam around the garden and explore the house room by room, then we all went for a walk. He had his dinner then we all settled down. He was nice and sleepy tired. It had been a big day for him and us.  When it came to bedtime, one of the "rules" we had set was no dogs in the bedroom. We knew he was used to sleeping downstairs in the kitchen, so we set up a cosy bed for him there and said calm good nights and went upstairs. All was quiet for a good thirty minutes and we thought he had gone to sleep and were just saying how easy that was when we heard a pitiful cry! We stuck it out for a short time then went down to see him.  He grabbed a toy, greeted us with a big happy face, and wagging tail. We settled him again went back upstairs and within ten minutes it all began again. He didn't bark just a heart rending whine and cry. It was heart breaking and we could not stand it.  After two hours of this -up a...