Busted!

Oh how I wish I had had a camera in hand! A picture would be a perfect piece of evidence. Lucy is so busted!

Our dogs have never been allowed on the furniture—no chairs, no couches, no beds. I am allergic to dogs. Though I cannot live without them, I do need to guard their access to shared things, so furniture has been off limits. Now on occasion there has been evidence Lucy was on the bed in the basement. It took me an embarrassingly long time to discover this. I'd pass by it on my way to my car and notice the spread was just a tad rumpled and would straighten it out. Yet it took me three or four straightenings to realize a bed does not rumple itself and on closer inspection what was this dirt doing on the bed?

We discovered a mouse trap was a great deterrent to digging in the garden or getting on furniture. Snapping that little device in front of her was the only signal she needed. Just seeing said scary device was enough to dissuade her. So up the mousetrap went on the bed for a week or so and the problem was solved.

Enter "the couch." The last two times I've returned from work, she has been sleeping on the basement couch. Not just sleeping either, but totally passed out. The first time I thought (well actually, I knew) she had just slipped off and onto her bed on the floor. But today there was no stealth. I opened the basement door and entered the room before she picked her head and blinked, "Huh?" Oh my! BUSTED! One quick burst of "LUCY!" and she was back on her bed.

Now I could place the mouse trap on the couch. I should place the mouse trap on the couch. I will place the mouse trap on the couch, but not yet. She's an old girl. She trips and stumbles. The couch is comfortable on her old bones. And oh! Am I a sucker for her fuzzy face! She was cute and so sound asleep. How could I be truly mad. But I must stop this behavior...soon...