Terry: Nipper had a habit of sleeping like the dead

Dogs, like some of the rest of us mammals, are creatures of habit.

The two we’ve got now and the many that have passed on quickly became an open book to anyone who pays just a little bit of attention to their habits.

Karl Terry

Our big dog has always loved his stuffed toys or as we refer to them, “Ranger’s woobies.” When he hears our car pull into the garage he immediately begins gathering up every woobie in sight and typically meets you at the door with more than one in his mouth. I believe it really troubles him when he can’t find one to bring to the door.

Even woobie remains can be great fun. Earlier in the summer his favorite Teddy bear had a lawn mower accident. I gathered up the squeakers, stuffing and grass-stained parts and threw them away — well I threw most of the parts away. The bear’s nose survived, and every night, we play with the silly thing. I don’t have the heart to take it away.

The dogs know my routine and I know exactly how they react to it and where they’ll be when I’m doing certain things. For instance, sitting in my home office writing my column the big dog is under the table I use as a desk at my feet. The bear’s nose is on the floor next to my right foot. The little dog is asleep in the side chair where I’ve placed her dog bed. My wife is in the living room alone.

When we go to bed at night we always watch TV for a bit and the little dog lays next to my wife. Once I finish getting ready for bed and turn out the light she gets up and moves up toward me so I can let her under the covers. She snuggles between my legs then licks my left ankle a few times and we fall asleep.

The big dog lays on the floor on my side of the bed until the light gets turned off, then he goes in to sleep on the sofa. He used to sleep under the bed until he got too big.

After she gets her dog treats at the breakfast table little Maggie hops up on the backrest of the love seat where she can closely monitor us at the table and can see and bark at any activity going on outside the window. She usually gets up to sun herself on the patio as soon as the sun gets up good.

Maggie also likes to lay on her back in the living room floor. All dogs roll onto their back occasionally but not all nap that way; she does. She’s not the best dog I ever had at it though.

Our Springer Spaniel/Labrador mix, Nipper, slept that way a good part of the time and could go deaf, blind and dumb while doing it.

One day the mail carrier for our rural route got out of his vehicle and came to the door to report to me that my dog with all four feet in the air a few feet from his running vehicle was apparently deceased. “She didn’t move when I pulled the car up and got out.”

“No, she’s just taking a good nap,” I said, then whistled sharply. She immediately rolled over and shook her head and looked at the mailman as if to say “where’d you come from, anyway.”

Karl Terry writes for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at:

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