I know what you are thinking... another post already... Z was too adorable yesterday to not share.
A couple of weeks ago a typical FL downpour started. Z gets up and casually goes under the end table in a corner of the room between a chair and a couch (thunder cave).
I was surprised as there was no thunder just wind and rain. I opened the lanai door a bit and called her and she came over. She would not even look out the door never mind go out. I went out she went back to the cave and slept.
This leads up to yesterday. First she had a long ‘detoured’ ride to Chatham from Mallory, then spent a couple of hours in my step mom’s HOT garage watching me work on a golf cart. On the way home, I took her down to the Polo Field to let her run. She does not run wild, she will heel to the cart so she is never far away. I can allow her off leash when there is no one around. I can see someone coming from a quarter mile away and if someone comes she goes back on leash.
Yesterday, she never did run, we were just hanging out walking around off leash about 50 feet from cart when a distant thunder could be heard. With no panic or rush, Z simply turns to the cart and
walks back and hops in. I laugh when I see her do this like if she goes slow enough no one can see her. One time I called her and she came out of the cart all the way to me long enough for me to say ‘good come’ and then she walked back.
She is not in a state of panic, not panting, licking licks or shaking… I called her again and this time she would not come. This is the first time she has done that for quite a while, but it is understandable in this situation. I could have headed home, but the storm was distant and right or wrong I felt this was a moment to help her and learn more about her (selfishly I was hoping she would poop so I could drop it in the poop canister
).
I put the leash on her (normal collar) and gave her a slight tug to get her started and off we went, as we walked we heard another distant rumble, and I could feel her try to turn on the leash. I do not even look at her and keep going which she follows
. Again we are about 50ish feet from the cart, no one around, so I take her off the leash. She walks around a bit but then ‘sneaks’ back to the cart. This time as she was about half way back I head out another 20 feet and hide behind one of the big trees on the edge of the driveway that runs around the property.
I was extremely curious what she would do. I peeked out from behind the tree and she was standing next to the cart looking back trying to find me. She then started sprinting to where I last was and as she approached I popped out and she came over with a big tail wag. She is always such a happy dog.
If you are familiar with the Polo Field, I cross over the driveway towards where the horse fields are and still off leash, she follows. We walk around a bit, I could not hear any more thunder and she finds a spot and … well you know… We head back to the cart, drive over and drop off her payload and head for home.
To top the day off as we head back to Mallory we were caught in a heavy downpour. She managed just fine.
There is no point to this post, Z is not ‘cured’ of thunder, I just found Z adorable through all of the drama.