Thunderstorming
A few nights ago, we experienced severe thunderstorms and lightning.
We were notified of these events by Miss Mina Beana, who began barking as soon as the thunder started. Using her patented “Get Up, Bitches®“* system, the Bean not only woke us up, but also Stanley who had been sleeping in the family room.
Because I didn’t have to get up in the morning for work, I went downstairs and let a howling Stanley out of the family room, and brought him into the dog bedroom with me.
Mina was barking furiously and stopped only to wag her tail at me when I walked into the room. She continued barking even after I had picked her up and put her in my lap on the chair in their room. Stanley jumped onto the chair and curled against me, shivering and whining softly.
Meanwhile, Paco was sleeping or appeared to be, since all I could see of him was his butt poking out of a blanket.
I sat with the dogs for a bit before Mina decided she was bored. She climbed down from the chair and sat in a crate where she proceeded to groom herself. Thunderstorm? What thunderstorm?
Paco finally got out of his blanket and seemed surprised to see me. His face said, pretty clearly, “Hey! No one told me you were here. Are we having a party?”
I pulled him onto the chair with me and Stanley, and he burrowed against me, rubbing his face against my leg.
Stanley was still whimpering, Mina was still grooming, and Paco was having fun, so I decided things were calm enough that I could take them outside.
They all ran outside and peed, and I put Stanley in bed in the family room and Mina and Paco back in their room.
A few minutes after I got back into bed, Mina began to bark again. Apparently she was fine with thunder as long as I was in the room with her, but she was unwilling to face it with only Paco in the room — a Paco who clearly did not understand the severe ramifications of not barking at the thunder, and insisted on sleeping.
Posted by: ssjane | July 23, 2007 | 12:16 pm
Posted in: Dogs