Monday, 14 April 2014

#104 Adverse Weather - Canine CondiShawns

♪ ♫ Goodness Gracious, Great Balls of Fire! ♫ ♪

We had our first Thunder and Lightning storm of the season last night.  

It came out of nowhere and beside taking Marcel and I off-guard, it really did a number on the smaller of our two dogs.  Santiago is just a wee little Chihuahua, (he only weights about 3 1/2lbs) and is not a fan of loud noises.  Thunder, Fire Works etc. He trembles. His heart-rate sky-rockets and he is incredibly skittish. 

In the past he would seek solace in his padded mini man-cave (It’s a foam and fabric dog house with a couple of dog blankies inside that he can burrow into), or he will dig under the covers in bed, or the dog blanket on the sofa.  But, last night he wanted to do was head for the hills, or what to him appears like hills: Marcel and I.  First while on the sofa, he would climb up on our laps, then into our arms, then onto our shoulders… and were he capable I’m sure he’d have climbed to the top of our heads.  This was completely new behavior for him, and we really didn’t know what to think.  We would take him down from his lofty perch because we were afraid what would happen with the next crash of lightning…

Peanut (the larger of the two dogs) jumped at the first crash of lightning, and then harrumphed and went back to sleep. Usually her calmness eases his jitters… but not last night.

And a good hour to ninety minutes after the thunder stopped, he was still on edge, ears at full attention, not allowing himself to curl up on the bed with us as we watched TV. 


They’re calling for more of the same tonight… poor little boog.  We try not to over-react to his reactions, but when you see something so small and so scared, how can you not react and want to do whatever you can to help him.  

Fingers crossed that tonight’s storm is not as intense. 

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