My house has become an interspecies battleground. The combatants – Snowball and Riley.

Snowball’s side:

1. She has her sleeping zone. It is a blanket on the floor by the bed. It defines a space the length of the bed and three feet wide. On this blanket she has other blankets arranged to her exact liking. Does a six pound dog take up all this space? No. But that doesn’t mean she wants to share.

2. Riley is a pain anyway. He can sleep on his choice of beds or couches. He only wants to sleep next to her to annoy her.

Riley’s side:

1. She’s not using the space so why can’t I sleep there?

2. I don’t even touch her.

The result:

Snowball will be fast asleep and Riley will come up and lay down. Snowball doesn’t wake up. They sleep peacefully until Snowball opens her eyes and notices Riley – usually about 2:00 AM. Then she lunges at him barking and snapping. He is unimpressed because she is half his size.

Now Snowball is so irritated that just the sight of Riley makes her mad no matter what time she sees him. He’ll be laying on the couch and she’s staring daggers at him. She’ll bark at him if he comes in the kitchen when she’s there. None of this really bothers him much but occasionally he’ll give her a cuff upside the head for insolence.

I’ve been locking him out of the bedroom at night so we can all sleep. I have Snowball at work today to keep her from thinking about Riley. Of course he’s probably spent the whole day sleeping on her blankets just to spite her!