Bodie needs to sleep

Bodie is trying to sleep on the sofa but he’s finding it very difficult.

“I am sooooooo tired,” he said.  “I want to close my eyes and dream of running in fields and chasing pigeons. I want to run and run and run!” However, there’s too much going on for him to sleep.

He can hear his human Mum talking to someone and then there’s a small human next to him on the sofa who’s really annoying him. “I’d wish he stopped pulling my fluffy tail. Oh please, stop playing with my tall black pointy ears. I don’t usually mind, but I need to close my eyes and sleep.”

Bodie is very tired. He’s only a puppy and it’s important he has enough sleep. A puppy needs to sleep a lot every day, and it will help Bodie grow into a big, healthy, strong dog. Getting lots of sleep also means that Bodie doesn’t get grumpy. Unfortunately, he gets grumpy, a lot.

When Bodie’s grumpy he does things that humans don’t like.  He barks, or sometimes when he’s very tired he nips people gently with his teeth. Except his baby teeth are so sharp sometimes it hurts.

Bodie doesn’t like doing these things, and he doesn’t mean to. Humans tell him off and although he tries to tell them that he wants to sleep, they don’t seem to understand his bark. Bodie sometimes thinks he speaks a different language to humans.

You might be thinking, well why isn’t Bodie getting any sleep? And who is annoying him on the sofa?

His new home is quite small and noisy, although he likes being around his human Mum and Dad and their two young sons, Adam and Stephen.

Adam’s a toddler, almost as young as Bodie and very happy to have a puppy to play with. The problem is that he never stops playing with Bodie. And it’s Adam who is sitting on the sofa annoying Bodie right now!

Stephen’s older and scared of dogs. He never comes downstairs. Bodie wants to meet him and feels sad that Stephen doesn’t want to say hello. “Stephen is much bigger than me, how can he be terrified of me? What have I done? Perhaps I could creep upstairs and see him. Oh, there’s a gate in the way, stopping me.”

Bodie does like this family, well the ones he sees, but he finds himself alone a lot of the time. The boys go to school and his human parents go to work. This means that Bodie spends time on his own, in a dog crate. It happens every morning; he’s fed and is usually happily running around the garden or playing with a toy. Then suddenly, he’s picked up and put in his crate. The crate door is closed, and his humans disappear out of the door. He doesn’t understand - all he knows is that he doesn’t like being alone. He cries and curls up in a tight ball. “I’ve got no one to play with and nobody to rub my belly”.

There’s one person that does come once a day to take Bodie out of his crate for a short walk. He’s always excited to them, but they always go away too soon, and he ends up back in his crate feeling sad and lonely again. “When are my human parents going to come back?”, he whimpers.

When they do come home, he wags and wags his tail because hurray! he’s not on his own anymore. They give him a stroke and usually Adam plays with him. Bodie really likes this part of the day because they pay him attention and feed him. He’s very excited when his human Dad comes home because it means it time for walkies in the nearby fields.  Walking and running the fields is so much fun. Bodie can smell so many things, like flowers and the earth. He can feel the long grass tickling his belly when he runs, and the air tastes different every time. “What’s just landed on my nose? It’s furry, black and yellow and is making a buzzing sound!” 

When Bodie gets home, he’s given his dinner which always makes him feel sleepy. Adam usually has other ideas and wants to play with him. “Oh no. Not now, please!” And then Bodie gets grumpy, and you know what happens when Bodie gets grumpy!

Remember at the beginning of the story Bodie could hear his human mum talking to someone? She was talking to another human on a phone about Bodie. It turns out that his human family don’t want him anymore. They think he is too much trouble, and they aren’t happy that Stephen, who’s scared of Bodie, never comes out of his room. They’ve realised that maybe getting Bodie wasn’t a good idea. Sometimes having a dog isn’t always the right thing.

Of course, Bodie didn’t know any of this until one day another pair of humans came to the house to say hello to him. “These people look nice. Oh, and they’re rubbing my tummy in just the right spot! Yes, I do like these people.”

Bodie went for a walk with his human Dad as usual and the new people came along too. “More people to play with outside,” said Bodie.

When they came back to the house, the new people were talking to his human parents so Bodie walked over to the sofa and jumped onto it to have a nap. “I’m so sleepy. I’ve had so much fun today meeting the new people and running in the field. I can’t keep my eyes open anymore.”

The new people stroked him and let him sleep. He liked these people.  

When he woke up, the nice people were still there. They put a lead on Bodie who wagged his tail because he thought he was going for another walk, and like a dog, you can never have too many walks. “This is great! Another walk. I wonder what I’ll smell this time”, Bodie thought.

This walk was a very short walk though, to a car. His human family were all there, apart from Stephen, giving him a lot of attention and stroking him. Before he knew it, Bodie was picked up and put in the back of the car, without his humans but with the nice people. “Why aren’t my humans in the car with me? wondered Bodie. The car started to drive away, and he quickly couldn’t see his humans anymore.

Bodie started crying and whimpering. The nice people talked to him and stroked him, but he wanted his humans back. He didn’t understand what was going on. He barked to tell them that he wanted to get out, but they didn’t seem to understand though. “Where am I going? Who are you?”. It was too much. He needed to sleep.

Bodie woke up just as the car came to a stop. He’d dreamt that he’d been taken away from his humans, a horrible dream and he never wanted to have it again. Then he opened his eyes and saw that he was still with the new humans, the nice people who let him sleep. He started crying again, realising that his dream wasn’t a dream at all.

The new humans took Bodie into their house. It had different smells and strange objects. He wasn’t sure about it at all. It was bigger though and had a huge garden. Bodie was extremely excited about the garden. He ran out as fast as his little legs could carry him bursting out on a green lawn and pretty flowerbeds, perfect for peeing on. “This is so much fun! I can do zoomies all day round and round.”

“This might not be too bad,” thought Bodie, “but I still miss my humans.” His new humans came out to the garden. They laughed and giggled as he jumped, barked, and ran around. They seemed very happy. And Bodie felt a bit happier too.

Then he started to become tired. The day’s events had got to him; he’d felt happy and sad all in one day. His new humans took him into their sitting room and Bodie jumped up onto the sofa. “This feels big and squidgy, perfect for me to sleep on.” His humans sat next to him, and he curled up beside them. They were warm and smelt lovely. Bodie drifted off into the best sleep he’d had for ages. And not once did they annoy him!

As the days and months went on, Bodie knew this family were better for him. The new humans worked at home, so they were there all the time. He loved being close to them. They were able to play with him, go out for walks much more often, and as there were no children it was blissfully quiet and peaceful.

Bodie could sleep whenever he wanted, run outside in the garden and when it was sunny, he could sit in the warmth of the sun and doze off. Bodie also made a lot of new dog friends, including Luna, who lived next door and became his best friend.

Bodie soon forgot about his other humans, his first family. His second family understood what he needed and loved him very much. He still got a bit grumpy, but when this happened his new humans knew he needed a bit of quiet time and put Bodie in his crate. He didn’t mind going in anymore, because he knew he was only going in for a short time and his humans were still in the house. Once in his crate, Bodie drifted off into a deep sleep, dreaming of running with Luna, getting wet and muddy and still chasing pigeons. It was perfect. Perfect for Bodie.