...and this is the second time that I've been outside with Savannah. In the dark. With a flash-light. Under the moon (which looks Halloween-ish at the moment) and under the stars (zillions of them tonight and they're beautiful).
The first time Savannah barked was midnight and after I stood at the top of the stairs and said 'Savannah! Go to sleep!' she still kept barking. Two or three barks at a time, which I don't ignore because she usually does go to sleep when I call out to her after I've gone upstairs. As yet, she has not followed us up the stairs to the second floor, but that time is coming close because tonight she had her front paws on the second step of the back stairs going up from the kitchen.
But at midnight, with her barking which seemed alert and purposeful, I went downstairs and found her staring at the kitchen door. Raccoon on the porch? Stray cat outside? Armadillo digging around in the flowerbeds? Any number of night-time critters could have been out there. My husband and I both came down the stairs to see what was going on, and found nothing outside but moonlight.
And my, have puppy-times changed.... months ago when we first got Savannah and she barked during the night my husband was not happy about after-midnight barking. Tonight, however, after checking outside on the porch, he sat down on the floor with Savannah and told her nothing was outside that was going to hurt her or us, and maybe she wanted a dog biscuit? Or a beef treat? Savannah put her paw on his arm and looked at him with the saddest eyes I've ever seen, as if she were apologizing for waking us up. My husband sat there and hugged Savannah and she just stayed there and kept putting her paw on his arm, his hand, his chest, his leg... wherever she could reach while she was being hugged and soothed.
My husband went upstairs after we gave Savannah a tiny bit of beef treat, and then I thought she may have to pee after all the midnight excitement. On went the coat and the boots... I took the flash-light and out we went. Gorgeous sky filled with stars, and the moon peeking through the clouds was a sight to behold. Savannah did have to pee, but I don't think that was the reason she had been barking. Back inside we came and up the stairs I went... the sky was beautiful but I could have done without it after another busy day of de-Christmasing the house.
At four o'clock this morning, more barking. One bark turned into three then turned into five. When the barking was at the 'one' stage, I lifted my head off the pillow and told Savannah to go to sleep. Her answer was three barks, then three more. Then five. Okay, okay, okay. Get out of bed... make sure you're awake before walking down the stairs to the first landing, make a left and go down the back stairs into the kitchen. And there was Savannah, staring at the back door. Again?
Nothing out there that I could see, but Savannah was clearly wanting to go out. On went the coat and the boots... the flash-light in one hand, her leash in the other. As soon as we got to the porch stairs, Savannah went into her high-alert mode. Before she would take a step down the stairs, her head went from side to side and I could see her sniffing the air. I scanned the yard with the flash-light and didn't see a thing, but I heard frogs down at the pond and raccoons off in the woods, and I hoped nothing else was out there more menacing than that. By this time, of course, I am wide awake.
I walked up and down the road a little bit, with Savannah still sniffing the air. There were four deer on the property across the road. I know this because I shined the flash-light right at them, poor things. And all four just froze in the light and I could count eight eyes staring back at me. More frog noises after that, and then dogs barking from the other side of the hill, which is probably what got Savannah to start barking in the first place.
After more than ten minutes outside, with Savannah picking up pebbles (which she spits out when I tell her 'Drop it!') I decided that she didn't need to be out there for pebble-hunting if she wasn't going to do anything more productive. Back inside we came, and here I am, really wide awake... and now it's five o'clock in the morning.
My husband just came downstairs and got himself a cup of coffee... he's wide awake also. As he was making the coffee, Savannah walked over to him and put her paw on his leg. He looked down at her and smiled... she looked up at him and did the same.
As I sit here typing in the breakfast room, I can hear Sweet Pea meowing by the door of the TV room. I guess we're all awake now and ready to start the day.
And where is Savannah? She's in her bed, sound asleep.
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