SLICE #3- Too old for slumber parties

I'm tired tonight. 

I think I'm too old for slumber parties. 

And we had one at my house last night. It was a doozy!

But maybe I should back up a little. 

I'm training a service dog, Rooney. And Rooney is at the point in his training where he has to go on staycations. About once a month, he spends a week with another puppy raiser. He's doing that this week. 

A couple of days ago, the service dog trainer asked if I would consider taking one of the other pups to work with me. They wanted him to have some experience in a school. I'm missing Rooney, so I said sure. I didn't know though, that I was agreeing to a puppy slumber party. 

Buck, the puppy I took to school today, lives about 15 miles east of me. I leave for work at 6:30, so I can drop off my son at his job, and still make it to work on time. I didn't think I had time to do a 30 mile round trip to pick up the puppy, drop off my son and make it to school on time and so I invited him to spend the night. 

I met Buck and his puppy mom at CAPR at 7:30. I should have known it was going to be a long night when Buck sat in the driver's seat honking the horn while I was trying to get feeding directions from his mom. 

Somehow I didn't get the message. I brought him home anyway.  My non-service dog puppy, Galaxy, was thrilled to meet him. 

First, they did mud wrestling in the pit in the corner of the backyard. That went on for about two hours. Galaxy must have spent the entire time on the bottom, because every time they came in, Galaxy was covered in another layer of mud, Buck on the other hand, remained pristine. I hosed Galaxy off, the best I could, and added, "take Galaxy for a bath" to my to do list for the weekend. 

Next, they did laps, running a loop that started in the hall by the stairs,  went over the back of a chair in the family room, around the dog crate, over my feet, through the bathroom, and back to the starting point in the hall. That went on for about 45 minutes. By that time, I was feeling a little tired, and a little  grumpy. 

And so I Buck into the crate for the night, hoping he would go to sleep. He complained for an hour, and finally did settle down. I did too, for a couple of hours. But then I had to use the restroom, and when I got up, so did Buck and Galaxy. I thought maybe Buck needed to go outside. And then Galaxy decided he would go with him. And it took another 15 minutes to get everyone back into the house. And then there was more complaining about sleeping in the kennel. 

Two hours later, I got up for the day. I had some work I had to get done before school. My friends decided they would get up too. And I spent the next couple of hours shushing them, before they finally ate breakfast and went back to sleep.

Buck slept through most of the school day too. 

I'm tired tonight. 

I think I'm too old for slumber parties.