Rainy days and holidays...

 



So yesterday was the "official" Thanksgiving day - even though my human celebrated with the traditional turkey dinner the day before with her family.  Because it was a holiday, it was a day off for most people.  Which for many people might spell the opportunity to sleep in and relax.  Not in our house.

We dogs are creatures of habit.  We are used to getting up at 5AM.  Holiday or not.  So of course, we made sure our human did not mess up her circadian rhythm by sleeping in.  We care about her.  That's WHY we wake her up.  The only problem - it was POURING rain.

We have not had a POURING rain morning in some time.  Yes, we have had showers - but yesterday we were talking Niagara Falls type rain.  So you KNOW what that means. Pull-a-PON.  It was actually a bit ironic - here we begged our human to get up - and then we didn't want to go out.  Elroy is FINE with the rain.  He stands there and just stares at the heavens.  I tell ya- he IS different.

Next it was my turn.  I was sporting my cobalt blue raincoat, and I understand that one must "go" quickly in such weather.  So I was out and back in.

But then there is Frodo.  As SOON as he saw the raincoats come out, he was gone.  So that's why my human took me first - she figured she would catch him afterward.

We came back in and my soaking coat was removed.  My human towel dried my head and then had to go and catch Frodo.  After several loops around the dining room table, she got him by the collar and led him to the door.  He stood and put on his 70's style ill-fitting plaid coat.  I think that's part of the problem.  Well.  Maybe not.  Even if he goes WITHOUT a coat, he's not happy.  He gets to the open door and puts on the brakes.  So the sport of Pull-a-PON begins.  Complete with treat enticement and begging.  He finally agreed to go out the doorway and began his funeral march.  It's interesting to see how much faster he moves AFTER he makes his "deposit" and is headed for home.

This phenomenon of dogs disliking rain it not completely breed specific.  Although, according to some sources, fear of rain and thunderstorms occurs more frequently in herding breeds - and German Shepherds and Collies were named as examples of breeds disliking the rain.  I get the thunderstorm thing - the loud noise and changes in barometric pressure CAN affect dogs.  And that could be scary.  Interestingly, though, Frodo and I don't care about thunder.  Not sure about Elroy yet - he hasn't heard any.

Some sites say that because we dogs have such good hearing, the sound of the rain actually hurts our ears.  Clearly Frodo's ears are not sensitive to the the sound of his own barking.  I still think he just doesn't LIKE getting wet.

Anyway, by 6 AM all of us had "done our thing" and were raring to go and DO something else.  Isn't that what holidays are for?  But for some odd reason, my human just wanted to go back to bed.  GO figure.

Have a good one!