Are you ready to switch off your screens and ponder or discuss another writing/conversation prompt from my friend Tyrean Martinson’s book? Here’s my take on it.
Having no dog of my own, I have only ever experienced watching other people’s sleeping dogs. I’m not sure that I ever heard any of them snore. I remember some of them breathing deeply. I watched their chests move, their paws twitch in their sleep. Sometimes they were all rolled up in a basket. The big ones usually just sunk their heads as their bodies stretched; every once in a while, a guarded look might sweep the scene, then the eyes would close again.
I’m pretty sure that the snoring of a sleeping dog would be pretty much like any living creature’s snoring. It counts among the white noises, I think, and unless arhythmic, ought to be as soothing as a lullaby. No wonder, some people and their dogs share a bedroom (if not the bed). Snoring might be perceived as soothing by either, human AND canine.
In the summer of 2023, some author friends of mine and I observed a dog by a stand at a fair we were attending. It was a quiet time. Which was WHY we were observing the cute puppy so closely and WHY its owner was talking on and on, for about half an hour, to another author. The dog didn’t move once. As it was very hot, we were wondering whether it was still alive at all. After these estimated 30 minutes, we were relieved to see the doggie very much alive, but obviously exhausted; its owner carried it away. That’s when we made a bet that we’d try and put a dog, either sleeping or dead, into one of our next novels. I managed that same fall, and put probably the most impossibly cute dog I will ever “create” into my novel Cursed Blood. And it plays an important role in a murder case. We all know about a dog’s fine sense of smelling … Well, at one point we find the dog in its basket … and I’m not telling you anymore …
I have no idea whether any of my friends have produced a dog of their own into their novels. Whether they are sleeping or dead – the dogs, not my friends. The most interesting point to me is that a sleeping dog is not just soothing, a little snoring included. It can obviously also be very inspiring. Just in watching it, our thoughts might slip away and create an entire train … They might be memories. Or plans. They might even turn into meditation and make US sleep. And maybe snore …
I’ve had to apologize to my Irish Wolfhound friends, because in my new Christmas Spirits book, I wrote about a Great Dane. The theme had a dog that slobbered. Wolfhounds don’t slobber, or only a few, where GD’s are noted for slobbering.
Dogs do snore and those with short noses snort and wheeze. They also whimper and sometimes growl when sleeping.
Very big dogs often sleep on their backs, twisting their bodies in the most unusual ways possible. Little dogs often snuggle up to small blankets or pillows. Irish Wolfhounds love sharing the bed in a back to back position with you (sometimes pushing you out).
You just made me chuckle about the pushing-you-out part, JoAnn. Thank you for sharing your experiences about dogs with one who only observes from afar …
Happy Weekend!