Cricket is a protector by nature. She is a small, fluffy, guard dog, with teeth she’s not afraid to use. But she seemed to believe she had to protect my bed, from me.
My room in the old apartment was an attic, with a slanted ceiling, and lots of shadows. Cricket knew, long before I did, that mice were cowering in the invisible corners of the room, behind bookcases and storage boxes, in the recessed closet and behind the unused radiators.
“It’s spooky up there.”
When I walked into my room, she would stand by the edge of the bed and lower herself into attack position. As I stepped closer to the bed, she would slink toward me and bare her teeth, and when I reached the two foot perimeter, she would attack. Bark! Bark! Bark! Grr! Until I was safely ensconced on the bed and no longer a threat. Then she would jump up and snuggle next to me.
“Attack!”
The bed protecting persisted no matter what I tried to do to distract her. I threw toys to her, I told her to sit (which she did, and then she popped right back up), I said Ouch.
Heaven help me if I tried to change my clothes anywhere near her zone. I learned to change in the bathroom with the door closed.
I think I must have brought a lot of ghosts with me from my childhood home to that apartment. Cricket certainly thought so.
It’s possible that she had done some doggy voodoo to clear the monsters and ghosts from the bed, and when I went upstairs to go to sleep, I brought new ghosts with me, threatening to undo all of her ghost busting work, so she had to bark and snarl and snap to scare those ghosts away.
I tried hard not to take it personally. Once I was safely on the bed, the barking abruptly stopped and Cricket could jump up on the bed for a scratch or a snuggle. Maybe this was her version of tucking me in at night.
Cricket tucking me in, sort of.
Cozy time
The fact is, I saw the shadows too. I worried about monsters under the bed, and ghosts in the closet. I just didn’t have the nerve to bark them away, like Cricket did.
In the new apartment, I never worry that there are monsters under the bed, or in the closets, or waiting outside the windows. It’s shocking to realize that they are gone, and that Cricket sees that they are gone, and has given up on protecting the bed. Partly, I’ve hedged my bets by keeping plastic storage boxes full of clothes under the bed so the monsters would have to be pretty skinny and dexterous to make their way in.
Every once in a while when I put my feet over the side of the bed, I’ll find Cricket there barking at me, and tugging at my socks, but it’s a mostly vestigial behavior. Her protective duties now seem to be focused on the front door of the apartment, where she makes sure that no dangerous creatures can steal their way inside on her watch.
rachelmankowitz 
I watch out the front window. I’m very protective of the house across the way where Steve and BJ live. So what if I go a little overboard and try to protect Steve’s house from Steve.
You never know if Steve is really Steve. He might be an alien pretending to be Steve. The real Steve is lucky to have you on the job.
Sweet Cricket…the cutest ghostbuster ever!!!! I LOVE how she tucks you in at night…precious!!!!
She’s so good at tucking me in, she cut a hole straight through the sheet!
I love Cricket! Priceless moments! ❤ God bless!
Thank you! She loves to be loved, at least on her terms.
We were camping once and our dog kept growling through the night as we had pitched near a haystack that was teeming with rats! She wasn’t that old and slept for about 16 hours the next day (apart from potty and food breaks). They certainly see. hear and sense more than we do. Bless you Cricket, for protecting and loving your mummy so much.
These puppies work so hard!
Cricket you would be the perfect friend for my mom. She believes in monsters under the bed :o)
“Grr! Grr!” Sending some Cricket spirit to protect you!
“Cozy Time” is a cute photto. Nice post!
Thank you!
Love the “Cozy time” pic! Cricket is so sweet to protect you. 🙂
She is very sweet, when she’s not biting me.
That is so funny, Rachel. I snorted out loud!
I take it Bailey doesn’t bite? Very, very lucky.
Not me, but he randomly chooses people to hate, though. It’s the strangest thing. He’ll bark and growl like they’re sworn enemies. Plus he’ll bite, which is something he never does at home. Can’t take him anywhere, I tell you.
The answer is to have a dog like Butterfly, one with no front teeth.
I will keep that in mind! Heheh. 😛
Such a brave little dog…chasing all those mice!
Oh very brave. Right now she is guarding the couch from dust balls, by snoring at them.
I love your blog, and therefore I nominated you for Blog of the Year 2013 award http://mykidhaspaws.org/2013/12/23/nominated-me-blog-of-the-year-2013-award/
Thank you so much!
I always think of barking as a way of telling us something is there. Dogs are like alarms and maybe cricket just want to protect mom 🙂
My dog barks sometimes if he don´t understand what something is or gets spooked.
Cricket sees a lot of things other people, and dogs, don’t see. It’s either the doggy version of ESP, or, um, mental illness.
Dogs are a better judge of character than humans, and perceive threats we don’t see. You have to wonder why the bed was safe but everything around it was off limits. It would be nice to be able to talk to our doggies and learn from them. 🙂
Interesting! I’ll have to follow Cricket around and see which other parts of the apartment she deems safe.
I had to laugh at the dog pulling on ur socks. Lol 🙂
Cricket provides great, if painful, entertainment.
Your blog fills (partially) my need for a dog. Thank you for sharing all these entertaining snippets of your experience of loving and caring for them.
I’ll have to figure out a way to send Butterfly and Cricket out to blog readers for an in-person experience. If Santa can travel the whole world in one night, you never know!
Cricket reminds me so much of Tessie, my little protector. Good job Cricket!
Yeah aggressive puppies! Oh, wait…