Story 57: Bed Stories Pt. 1 - Laika the Destroyer

For a creature that loved her comfort all the time, Laika had a strange way of showing her appreciation to her beds! In fact, until the last 6 months of her bodily life, any bed was lucky to last more than a week before it was wrecked. Due to a combination of ingenuity, my mom's sewing ability and taking a chance on a lounger, I was finally able to stem the tide of Laika's destructive tendencies.

As a young pup, Laika could complete shred any toy (aside from those that dispensed peanut butter) in a few minutes. She also took out her chewing aggressions on other people's leather shoes at times. (Thankfully, all of my shoes were vegan!) However, for the most part, she seemed to enjoy the sleeping cushions that I had in her crate, and rarely did anything to try to ruin them. Toys, shoes and trash were not safe from her reign of terror; beds were.

At some point around the age of 5 or 6, Laika decided that it was time to stop tearing-apart toys and start waging war on her beds. Previously, she loved the (smaller) dog beds with higher walls that she could curl-up in and be very warm (see Photo 1). All of a sudden, should couldn't get comfortable enough in them until she "dug" the bottom vigorously. Granted, watching her at "work" doing this was hilarious. She would first circle and assess the bottom of the bed by pressing her paws and nose into the cushion, finding just the right spot. Then, with laser-focused attention, she would begin to scratch and dig the spot with her front paws so quickly that they looked like a blur. In a matter of moments, the foam cushion would be ripped, but sometimes the cover would magically be spared. Satisfied, Laika would then circle proudly, lay down and go to sleep.

This ritual didn't happen all the time, but mostly when a bed was new. In fact, once "autographed," beds might remain in this condition for several months until she decided to finally put them out of their misery. I was sometimes able to open to covers and repair the foam with duct tape, but that was just a temporary fix. Each time she thrashed a new bed, I would promise that it would be her last...only to buy another one on sale several months later. If a new bed lasted over a week without receiving this treatment, it would be a minor miracle. However, that maybe only happened once or twice. Laika would make sure to tear it up the next week.

So, Laika constantly slept on ripped foam. Yet, for some reason, the bed she used at my parents' house was unscathed for years until I brought it to my house...they it only lasted a week! Laika created this job for herself and was quite meticulous about completing her self-appointed work. I think this habit also had something to do with her reaction to outside noises that made her anxious, as I would occasionally find her bed in tatters upon returning home on days when construction was going on around our house. At least she wrecked something like the beds and not anything irreplaceable (except the one time she tried to play a "cool" Indian instrument that I had...another story, completely). Many a day, I would return home to find a smiling, happy Laika standing near a disheveled bed, surrounded by bits and pieces of foam. As a result, her beds were thrown-away and her bed-rights were temporarily revoked.

After being without a bed for a little bit, which Laika made-up for by sleeping on "my" bed or the couch, she needed to have surgery on her leg and be confined to a small area for two weeks (again). Since we wanted her to be especially comfortable during this time, my mom bought her two very nice orthopedic beds. The first one lasted about three days until Laika burrowed a hole in the middle, the second one about another week. Amidst the rest of the chaos she caused during the healing process, this was small potatoes. Luckily, the underside of the bed was smoother than the fleece top, so I just flipped it over and covered it with tons of blankets and she was fine. The second one was repaired with a strip of nice accent fabric by my mom (see Photo 2) and lasted a while longer, until it needed to flipped as well. So, we made do with what we could.

After Laika started chemotherapy last year, some of her beds were still sleep-able. However, some pee accidents from Prednisone and other treatment side-effects rendered these unusable. It was then that two real breakthroughs occurred...(to be continued tomorrow)

Photo 1. Straight-up chillin' in bed at my parents' house.

Photo 2. Blurry shot of Laika on the scratched, then patched bed! (Thanks, Mom!)

Bonus! Photo: Laika in a semi-destroyed bed, next to a semi-destroyed bed (flipped upside down to hide the hole), on "my bed". This was taken during my New Year's Eve house-cleaning last year.