Sensitive!

My dog is highly sensitive. The poor thing has been freaking out for the last week as I've been packing things up. She knows something is going on, but since she can't identify it, she just shivers at me. The only time she is really calm is when I'm asleep. At that point, she knows I'm not leaving her forever.

I've written before about her shredding boxes and things when we put her in the middle bedroom. Last night, we were going out to dinner with Fran & Leonard and since she was curled up so nicely in the study, I thought maybe we could give that a try. Max pulled the door shut and off we went.

Bad idea. She tore into the trash and then at a stack of books that I have right beside my desk. I had purchased these books to follow along with Matthew for a couple of his classes in college. She chewed the freakin' corners off the Old Testament Survey book. I can laugh about it now, but I was pissed off last night and I yelled at her (no spanking, just yelling). She took one look at me picking up the book and began to cower. I told her what a bad girl she was and then told her that I was mad at her.

She ran! Away! She took off and went downstairs to curl up on the couch. It took about half an hour before she had the courage to come back upstairs. The one thing I know about discipline is that holding onto anger after the initial conflict is craziness. So, I was fine with her - told her I loved her and snuggled her for a bit.

Well, this morning I caught her in the bedroom trying to dig into something she didn't need to be into. I snapped at her and told her to stop it. She ran away again! Back downstairs to the sofa. Goodness, I wasn't even mad, I just needed her to stop. It only took her a few minutes to come back to me and curl up in her bed.

Crazy, sensitive dog! Now I really have to be careful of using my angry voice.

Funny story - a year or so ago, Max and I went to Colorado with Soul Seekers. One night, at the hotel, she had done something bad and I scolded her. I think I even spanked her bottom. Oh! I suspect she was barking at someone and I had repeatedly told her to stop. She was paying no attention, so I gave her a swat. That made her quite angry with me. She stalked away from me to Max's bed (2 queen beds? I get my own) and refused to sleep with me that night (she sleeps with me every night!). She curled up against him and looked at me as if to tell me that I was going to be punished for that swat.

Max and I just laughed.

So, today, I have to keep packing and figure out how to avoid freaking my dog out. She dosn't understand that of course she is going with us.