Way back when we first had our offer on the house accepted we were confronted with the conundrum of where Chloe would sleep. In the condo we simply put up baby gates locking her in the kitchen at night and when we were out. Her bed was there all the time and she would often choose to sleep there even when we were home.

With the much more open floor plan of the house baby gates were no longer an option so we bought a nice much bigger than she needed crate. Despite introducing the crate while still living in the condo where she was comfortable and moving her bed in there. She was still less than thrilled…

So we reinforced the crate to prevent future chewing and bought her a very expensive nice memory foam bed to make it more comfortable.

All was well with the world for about six months. Then the night time crying began. At first it was only for 5 to 10 minutes when she first went to bed then she would calm down and go to sleep. No big deal I’m brushing my teeth and getting ready for bed then anyway.

Then the real rebellion happened.

The memory foam bed died. As “parents” we’re growing increasingly concerned about this rebellious behavior. First a chewed crate, then crying at night, now a chewed bed. What’s next? What if she decides to take up with the hooligan German Shepherd down the street that barks all hours of the night? We had to put our foot down. This diva teenage behavior is unacceptable.

So we made the decision that she would not be getting a new bed. She ripped up the bed she could sleep on the foam scraps just fine. I even had grand plans to make a bed by stuffing a used pillowcase. Then we cracked.

While running errands at Bed Bath and Beyond we ran across clearance dog beds. As ever loving and forgiving parents we caved.

Now Chloe has a brand new pretty pink princess bed…

So what do you think, did we fail as parents enforcing her behavior that all she has to do to get a new bed is destroy her old one. Or is OK because after all she’s just a dog.