Every night I take the puppy outside and then when we come in she gets her treat, which is one-half a Quiet Moments supplement tablet covered in my other dog’s gross canned food. The puppy goes batshit for this combination, even though the allegedly peanut butter-flavored supplement tablet feels like blackboard chalk and let’s not even talk about the olfactory or texture properties of prescription dog food.
She gets Quiet Moments because it is supposed to be calming. It has all sorts of stuff in it like chamomile and tryptophan and melatonin, and it is that last one that prompted me to choose Quiet Moments over many other (probably bullshit) “calming” aids for dogs.
We’ve been giving it to her for most of the time we’ve had her and I really couldn’t tell you if it works or not. She sucked at sleeping for so long, but it was a matter of such small degrees – like, if she takes the tablet does she stay asleep for 60 minutes instead of 45? – that any tiny incremental step forward seemed like a huge win.
I haven’t really had trouble sleeping during quarantine. Maybe now that the puppy doesn’t wake me up constantly my brain is just like SHUT ‘ER DOWN and that’s it. Back when this all started there were a few restless nights, but now I’m just…used to it. I’ve even started falling asleep on the couch again, an old living-alone habit.
Falling asleep on the couch has meant I’ve had to catch up on several episodes of McMillions and Hunters and most recently a Studio 54 documentary. But last night I did not fall asleep during two episodes of Run on HBO, which I recommend getting into. There’s just two episodes available right now, with new ones released every week. Phoebe Waller-Bridge is an executive producer so if you’ve gorged yourself on Fleabag and Killing Eve you should for sure get involved.
Lastly, I’m not sure what we’ll do about dinner tonight, I’ve only announced that I don’t want to cook it or go retrieve it. These are scary parameters, I know, but I feel certain my husband can handle it.