For a working dog bred to rescue hapless humans from avalanches of snow, Daisy has an unusual phobia. She hates getting her paws wet.
Maybe it's just in wet grass. She doesn't seem at all to mind waves washing in over her feet. But go out into the yard on a rainy day? No way!
The rain poured all night and into the morning. It was 12:30 p.m. when Daisy's amazing bladde
r started getting to me. Surely she had to go outside. No, she insisted, when I opened the back door. I pulled an old umbrella out of the garage, one of those gigantic golf umbrellas. It was big enough to cover the two of us, probably at least four feet across. So out we went, me offering moral support with the umbrella.It didn't work. Daisy dashed over to a different door and tried to get in. I insisted, and chased her back to the first door. She ran off another direction, down a concrete path that was being doused by a clogged gutter on the roof. She was drenched. Anything to stay off the grass!
She ran under the deck and hid. I encouraged her. Finally, nature got the better of Daisy. She tiptoed into few feet of grass and squatted.
We both ran inside. Daisy got a fabulous rubdown -- like she always does.
You'd think that would overcome any hesitation about wet tippy toes.
4 comments:
Maggie, my water-dog, used to huddle in doorways and whimper if I took her out in the rain, even a gentle summer drizzle. I assume it was because she was a stray, on the road for two months when she was a pup, during a particularly rainy season! She got over it in time. Now, while she loves to swim, she's still not crazy about being rained on.
But I have a couple of questions on the food entry. Why do you cut the eggs up into small, but not tiny, chunks? And, what kind of bone meal do you use?
You could be right ... maybe rain brings back bad memories. Does Maggie try to head into every open doorway or car door, even on dry days?
No, she never heads for cover when it's dry. I'm sure it's bad memories, but she is pretty well over it now. When we have to go out in the rain, she puckers up her lips and makes a very sour face, but she does what she has to do.
For the longest time she had nightmares almost every night, in which she'd be running and howling in her sleep. That stopped about three years ago. Maybe her bad memories are fading, although dogs never forget things. Lisa still has nightmares, but far fewer than she did when she first came to us.
Does Daisy have nightmares?
Hi, I have 2 basset hounds (same litter) w/ exactly the same phobia. Molly exhibited the phobia at around 6 month age. Auburn didn't have a problem before but eventually took on his sister's phobia. They're both 2.5 yrs old now and Auburn will walk up close to the grass to do his business but Molly wont' even walk out the door. She'll stand next to the door under the shade until I let her in and will hold her bladder and bowels for 2 days or more if she has to just to avoid the rain. And yet she's the first to jump in lake Michigan water and romp around in the snow. So aggrevating!
Post a Comment