It's bedtime now.
Time to snuggle into bed and let your eyes softly close.
Let's take three deep breaths together.
Ready?
Good.
Notice how warm and safe and comfortable you feel.
Keeping your eyes closed,
Allow your mind to travel with the sound of my voice.
Beneath you,
Your bed has transformed,
And you find yourself lying on a plush round bed beneath an open window.
Fresh air breezes into the room,
Filling it with the scent of the sweet olive trees outside.
Lying on your side,
You hear the morning calls of the birds and take a deep breath as you stretch your front and back legs,
Arching your back.
You roll over to your belly and push up onto all four paws.
Then stretch the front of your body by dropping your weight into your back legs as you let your front legs extend and your chest come towards the floor.
The rest of the house is still asleep,
So you decide to find your special door and have a look outside.
You amble over to the back door,
Your tail wagging behind you as if it has a mind of its own.
Sitting,
You stare at the flap that allows you to go out.
You're still just a little one,
And this door sometimes makes you feel a little nervous.
You don't always like the feeling it gives you as it slides over you,
But you know this is the only way out unless you want to wake up your humans,
And you know they would be so much happier if you faced your fear.
So you close your eyes and picture the beauty of the backyard.
You imagine the feeling of the grass under your feet,
The dew cooling the pads of your paws.
You wonder if your friend Yogi might be in his yard on the other side of the fence this morning.
You take another deep breath and make the decision to face your trepidation.
You lower your head and push through the door,
Then scamper as quickly as you can through,
Feeling the cool plastic slide over the top of your head.
Down your back and over your tail.
It gives you the heebie-jeebies and you start to shake your whole body,
Starting with your head,
Then your shoulders and front legs,
Your back,
And progressing all the way to your hips,
Your back legs,
And your tail.
That wasn't so bad,
You think to yourself,
But you're also not excited about doing it again to go back inside.
Better to stay out here until the humans awake,
You think.
You don't smell Yogi out yet,
So you decide to explore the yard for new scents.
Nose to the ground,
You investigate,
Each nostril moving independently.
You discover that someone has moved into your yard.
Though you can't see them,
Your nose helps you out like a game of hot and cold.
You're not sure who it is,
But you're trying to figure out who it is.
Each nostril keeping you on course.
You follow the scent,
Meandering around the yard.
Sometimes you find you have to push your nose a little deeper into the ground in places,
Where this new guy has burrowed further underground.
You sneeze so big it makes your whole head wiggle.
Despite your big sneeze,
It takes you mere seconds to catch the scent again.
You keep following it until it slips beneath Yogi's fence.
Just then,
Yogi bounds out into his backyard.
He barks a good morning,
And you tell him about the scent you have found.
You meet him at the fence where you lost the scent,
And he picks it up on his side.
You try to watch through the fence as Yogi switches back and forth around his yard,
Nose to the ground.
But then your attention is pulled away from Yogi as you hear sounds within your house.
Your humans are awake.
As you make your way back to the door,
You start to feel like something is following you.
There it is again.
You see it out of the corner of your eye.
You reach for it,
Curving your back sideways until you start to resemble a donut.
As hard as you chase it,
The thing stays just far enough away from you that you can't quite catch it.
You hear a familiar laugh and look up to see your humans watching you from the window in the door.
They open the door for you and bend down to scratch you behind your velvety soft ears.
You follow them to the couch,
Where they sit to sip their coffee.
They slowly and soothingly pet you,
Their hand moving from the top of your head down your shoulders and back.
You start to feel a deep sense of relaxation come over you,
From the tip of your wet nose to your fluffy ears,
Down the length of your head and neck,
Down your back,
Into your body,
Down your arms and legs,
And all the way down the length of your tail.
You let your eyelids become heavy and gently let them close.
Your breathing becomes soft and deep and effortless.
You are completely comfortable resting on the soft couch with your human.
You breathe in the comforting smells of your home.
The muscles in your body release and you feel fully supported by the couch beneath you.
You are completely relaxed and you let yourself drift off to sleep.
Good night little puppy.
