three dog nights
A 'warm'-hearted bedtime story from good friend Karen Prior ...
I married rather young. But even at a tender age, I knew precisely which values it was necessary for a man to share with me in order to share also my bed and my life. These deal-breakers fell into four categories: religion, politics, dogs, and temperature. Putting aside religion and politics (which are pretty self-explanatory), let me explain the latter two.
When it came to dogs, I would marry only a man who loved dogs and who believed that dogs belong in the house and on the furniture. In terms of temperature, I needed a man who would agree to take me away from my native northern clime and, until then, keep the thermostat set at “warm.” (I’m quite sure that after finances, temperature is, for most couples, the most frequent source of dispute! But in our case, we both would have gladly eaten a steady diet of peanut butter and spaghetti, if necessary, in order to keep our home warm.) I had no idea how well the love of dogs and warm temperatures would work together in our lives and our marriage.
My husband and I recently celebrated 25 years of warm, wedded bliss. We did indeed move to a more temperate region. And by sharing the bed with our dogs – truly nature’s most generous, comfortable, loving and environmentally-friendly source of heat – we have found even more warmth – and a good amount of savings on our heating bill, to boot!
When we had only two dogs, mine would sleep on the bed at my feet, and my husband’s dog at his feet. Then my husband learned of a puppy that needed a home. “We can’t have three dogs!” I protested. “Where would the third dog sleep?” I asked. At 75-85 pounds, the two we had were already making even a minimal amount of tossing and turning a trifle complicated - even if we did have a king-size bed.
My husband patted the pillow in between us at the top of the bed. “She’ll sleep right here.”
So when we brought that puppy home and took her to bed that first night (eight years ago now), that is the spot she immediately went to - with no prompting from us - and it has been her spot ever since.
And now, when once we used to turn the thermostat down to 70 degrees at night, our living bed-warmers have allowed us to keep inching it down all the way to 60, and even then it sometimes might be a bit too warm.
Legend has it that on cold nights, Eskimos used to bring a sled dog inside to keep them warm in the igloo. On colder nights, they brought in two. But on the very, very coldest nights, three dogs cuddled with the family to keep them warm through the night. These were called “three dog nights.” As we are going through this deep-freeze across the nation, I am even more thankful that for us, every night is a three dog night.
(Many thanks to Karen for writing this piece especially for not one sparrow. Please see some of her other excellent posts. The photo of Karen, her husband Roy and their three dogs, was taken by John Carl, a former student of Karen's who works with the DuckDuck Collective in Lynchburg, Virginia (©); winter scene photo © Tyler Olson/123rf.com.)
January 19, 2010
Reader Comments (2)
Very interesting! I always wondered where the term "three dog night" came from. : ) As Karen Prior lives in our town of Lynchburg, which is getting 10-14 inches of snow as I write, she and her husband must be extra grateful for their three dog nights--and days!
I bet they are this weekend, you all got snowed in pretty bad! - Ben