Dog Walls

Emme is a little bit of a thing, but Rudy is a solid 80 pounds of dog. When he lies down, he is an effective dog wall.

When we are at the dining room table and Rudy lies down by my chair, I have to climb over a dog wall to get to the kitchen to refill our coffee cups. When Ken takes a shower, Rudy lies on the bath mat and Ken has to step over and around him to get out of the tub. When Rudy comes to visit me in my sewing room, he usually lies between me and the door, effectively making me climb over a dog wall if I want to go into another room. In Ken's office, Rudy lies right next to Ken's chair and prevents him from going to the closet or bookshelves unless he climbs over the dog wall. Rudy also lies right in front of Ken's file drawer in his desk so Ken is prevented from putting things away in the drawer while Rudy is lying there. At night if one of us needs to get up, we need to check to see which side of the bed Rudy is sleeping on and then gingerly, sleepily step over him to go to the bathroom. On our return, we need to climb back into bed, over the dog wall, without stepping on Rudy.

Living with a big dog makes for some interesting situations.