Get Comfortable - Smart Animals

From Reader's Digest Magazine

A race to bed
My girlfriend and I had decided that our Maltese-Pomeranian puppy, Alfie, was too pampered. So we decided he would not be sleeping in the lounge room anymore, but rather, be left at night in the laundry.

On the first night of the new sleeping arrangement we put his bed in the corner of the laundry and watched him hop in with no fuss. When we woke up the following morning, we found Alfie asleep in his racecar-shaped bed in the lounge room. An argument ensued between us as to which “softie” had given in and moved his bed back to the lounge room. Both of us were adamant that we hadn’t done it.

The next night we put the bed back in the laundry and again Alfie jumped straight in. About an hour later, as I lay in bed, I heard a strange scraping sound coming from the hallway. I got up, turned the light on and there was Alfie, with the end of his bed firmly in his mouth, dragging it all the way from the laundry down the long hall to the lounge room, where he obviously preferred to sleep. Now we let him put his bed wherever he likes.

DEREK BOS, Highbury, SA

Meowsical chairs

My tortoiseshell cat, Susie, has very definite ideas about what she wants and is prepared to go to great lengths to get her own way. She has recently decided she prefers to spend her day on a chair in our study, but it has to be the grey chair, not the red one. As I use the grey chair at the computer, it isn’t always convenient for her to use it.

One morning, I had moved her off the disputed chair a few times and for a while we even shared it, but that wasn’t really a satisfactory solution. Eventually I got the grey chair to myself while she sat on the red one.

Suddenly, Susie jumped down and went to the kitchen door, meowing as if she needed to go out in a hurry. So I got up and went to open the door, whereupon she ducked around me, ran back into the office and jumped onto the grey chair, and settled into a comfortable position with a very determined manner. Susie and her chair were moved to the other desk, and for the rest of the day I sat in front of the computer on the red chair. Round one to Susie.

ANN CUMMINGS, Nyngan, NSW

Sleeping dogs roll over and play dead
When I lived at home with my parents, it was my job to make sure Spike, our kelpie cross, slept outside at night. After going out one night, I returned home to ask my mother if I could stay overnight at a friend’s house. Without turning on the lights, I gently woke Mum and she murmured, “OK.” Before I left the house, I poked my head around her door to wish her goodnight.

When I arrived home the next day, Mum laughingly told me that Spike had been on the bed with her. When he had heard my car pull up, he had gone completely still. When I had stood at the end of Mum’s bed, he had not moved a muscle while I was speaking to her. He had even hidden his white front paw under his chin so I wouldn’t spot it. When he heard my car drive off, Spike gave Mum a big thank you lick for not having given him away.

SHARON ARGENT, Bibra Lake, WA