In Which We Experience Fear

On some level, I think we have been lucky. We have never really had a “fraidy” dog, certainly nothing like Bella. Maybe Moree had a crate issue similar to some of Honey’s bike trailer issues, but his were strictly limited to crates, and not small spaces in general (in fact, he loved to den). Smokey did have submissive peeing issues, but those generally came up only at times of high excitement (us getting home at the end of a 12 hour day), but while it took time for him to get over that, it was easy for us- be consistent so he knows his place in the pack, and don’t actually pet him until everyone is outside.

No, for the most part, my dogs have been much more like Shiva, eagerly looking to try and do anything, without much care for their own safety. Smokey once jumped out of a second story window onto concrete below because we were calling. Larry is certain he’s the biggest dog in the park, and does not know the meaning of back down.

So it surprised me the other night to find out that I have a dog who is seriously afraid of something, and that dog is my brave, terrible little terrier.

No dogs like smoke alarms. I get that. Smokey used to try and go hide when one was going off (happened a lot in our first house)- sadly, we have a captains bed, so he could not get under it. Moree would bark his little head off at the source of the annoying sound. But always, always, my dogs have gotten over it as soon as the noise stopped.

This week, for the first time in over a year (and probably longer), we accidentally set off the smoke alarm and filled the house with smoke.

I had been at the grocery store, and as I was pulling into the driveway, the smoke alarm started going off. When I got in the house, all three dogs were upset. C got the smoke alarm shut off, but there was still plenty of smoke. I noticed all the dogs over by the screen door (Larry was actually huddled against it) and decided to take them outside. It would give the house a little bit of time to clear out and give their little doggie brains something else to focus on.

We went out. In just a minute or two, Howie and June were ready to come back in. Larry approached the steps, saw/smelled the smoke, and refused to come any closer. We went over to the side yard and sniffed and barked at birds and cars and passersby for 5 minutes. We headed back to the house. Larry walked up onto the steps, but refused to enter the house. It took me three tries to get him in, and then he turned around and walked right back out.

Once he was finally in, and I was able to close the screen door (because we still needed to air out the house) he huddled against the screen.

Now, we don’t know much about Larry’s life before us. We know he was severely malnourished when he was surrendered to the shelter in LA. We know they claimed he ate only steak.

What happened this week may have been his first ever exposure to a smoke alarm and smoke, or it may have been something that he experienced frequently in his three years before us. I don’t know.

All I know is that I hated seeing my little boy so scared, but also that I don’t really want to repeat the situation enough to try and desensitize him to it.