“The sky is falling, the sky is falling!” Do you have a pet that lives with anxiety? Lucas, my lovely old fellow, is not a lover of the elements. This morning I woke up to a quaking dog, I didn’t even have to check the weather network or look out the window, I knew it was most likely raining. Sure enough, as I opened the blinds I was faced with little tiny ice pellets collecting on the screen, not a day that my dog is going to embrace with gusto. He has a Thunder Shirt, but alas, it was too late to put it on him once a weather system like this is well underway. The ironic thing is, even though he is terrified about the sky falling, he insists he needs to go for his walks, he stands by the door shaking like a leaf as I put on my boots. I assure him it is okay if he wants to stay home, I can walk Diesel without him, but no, he stands in front of the door blocking me from leaving without him. As we made our way through the park, the ice pellets gaining size and speed, his tail between his legs, the tip practically reaching his chin and his ears pinned to the side of his head, he plodded onward. Rather stoic I would say, he has a route and that is his mission. He is kind of like the postal worker of yester year, “neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night, nor the winds of change…will stay us from the swift completion of our appointed rounds.” I wonder how much my anxious boy is enjoying his morning constitutional, but I will give him props for not whimping out and crawling up on the couch and avoiding the day by staying warm and cozy. Lucas taught me a lesson in fortitude today…there are times that it is really hard to get on with the regular business of the day, to face the world when you are feeling overwhelmed and scared. Perhaps it helps that he knows he has me there at the other end of the leash, whatever his reasoning is, when it comes to fight or flight, he fights! (you may think it is flight, but it isn’t, flight would be taking refuge in the tub, like he does when he is woken by the sound of rain in the middle of the night). Fight is taking those steps out the door even when it seems overwhelming daunting to do so!
No Time To Paws 