There are two perfect dogs at my feet right now, watching patiently and very very goodly as Liz goes through the nighttime treat drawer getting them their before-bed yums. We, boy…we do A LOT for nighttime routine.
First, we take them each out to go potty, sometimes together, but most of the time I take them out one by one. Then I give the kitties their nighttime treats and lock up my office. Then, we brush their teeth. We use these finger brushes that go directly onto your finger rather than a normal toothbrush. We find it’s easier to control that way. Then, they each get a dental treat—Joy gets a greenie and Coops gets his own special old-man chew that’s not too hard on his teeth. I usually go and brush my teeth while they chew on them. Oh, and at some point after potty and during this time, Cooper gets his first eyedrop of the night, his Tacrolimus, which we call his “Tackies.”
After I brush my teeth, Cooper is usually ready for his final eye drop of the day, which is just an eye gel drop, no medication in it, to keep them nice and moist; he has big eyes as a shih tzu, after all, and keeping them wet while he’s older is very important. After that, he gets his final treat, which is a joint supplement called Dasuquin, which we call “Dasy,” and he gets his sweater to sleep in (because we keep it nice and cold in our bedroom at night, because we from norcal where its supposed to be cold at night). Joy gets her last treat of the night, too, which is usually a couple Charlie Beans. Then I get into bed and Joy licks my face for a while before falling asleep in the crook of my arm and shoulder, on her back, sitting up kinda like a person or a baby would. Coops usually curls up at our feet, and Joy eventually moves down in between my legs.
This is when I start writing my blog, which is exactly where we are right this very moment. The whole process legit takes about…forty minutes, I’d say? Something like that. It’s very involved. But, it helps us all go to sleep, so we love it.
Night night.