The Republic of GooberStan: Angst

Monday, August 11, 2008

A Little Help From My Friends

This is a LONG post, but please read!

My girl and I have something about which we need your advice, and like the Beatles sang, I really do believe I could use "a little help from my friends". Even though it is something that seriously plagues me, rest assured it has nothing to do with my health. As of this morning I was doing fine and lounging with Stella in GooberStan. Here's proof.

Actually, it has to do with the obssessive bug phobia I have developed. Now, here is an example of a good chicken dance I do when I'm happy, taped a couple of days ago. (My girl threw me 2 chickensickles for dinner. So I like to play with my food. Sue me.) Please ignore my girl's annoying voice. Sheesh!

This is an example of my phobic Chicken Dance I do almost everytime I go outside during daylight hours.

Some of you may remember that when my girl adopted me she was told that I was sometimes afraid of butterflies and other flying insects. Until this summer, that was occassionally true. Sometimes I'd be outside minding my own business, having a nice whiz or playing with Stella and then... BAM! Something starts dive-bombing me and I start looking for the culprit like this.

Or like this.

It used to be, if I got a little "bugged out" during the day, then I might be a little leary of my going off the deck out into the grass for the rest of the day until the sun went down, or I'd at least be on high alert for anything flying in or around my vicinity. But, by the next day, I'd be back to my old self and I wouldn't be bothered by bugs again for another week or two (or maybe longer). I would even hunt bugs and try to catch them for a little snack.

Just so you know. I'm not afraid of thunder, fireworks, other dogs, cats, hoomans... I can't think of anything else that freaks me out (well, I really don't like to be groomed or have my paws messed with - but it's not at all the same kind of freak out that bugs inspire). And, the bug-phobic behavior usually only happens in the spring and summer mostly, and usually on bright or sunny days. If it is overcast outside I don't seem to notice the bugs as much, but they can still bother me.

Well, this summer I started having longer episodes of bug-phobic behavior if I got freaked out by a bug in my yard. It wouldn't just last that day, but might last for a couple of days. By the time we were getting ready to go to Iowa a few weeks ago, I was starting to have several days in a row of this bug-phobic behavior. By bug-phobic, I mean that I didn't want to be out in my yard and wouldn't leave the deck unless my girl went out into the yard with me. She couldn't distract me from my hyper-vigilant behavior by playing with me. And, I couldn't wait to get back inside the house. An additional thing I started to do was insist that my girl open up the "green room" (her office), which is my favorite room in the house. I wouldn't settle down or go to sleep unless I could go in that room to lie down. (It is a dark room where the curtains and blinds are closed unless my girl decides to open them.)

On the way to Iowa, I was so wound up from about 3 days of being bugged out that I barked at every stinkin' cow or cow-like thing I saw on the side of the road. I didn't just bark, but got really worked up. When we got to Iowa, I was calm and seemed fine. But, about one hour into the ride home from my granny's house (a 6 hour ride total) I saw a bug flying inside the car and lunged from the backseat up to the windshield to try to get it. My girl couldn't get me to calm down even after we stopped to give me a breather outside of the car and a little walk. She finally gave me a couple of Benny Drills and sat with me in the backseat. I eventually calmed down enough to get a little sleep, but I could tell my girl was really concerned about me.

My girl couldn't change her plans for her trip to Colorado on such short notice, but she thought that me being at home getting some individual attention from my dogsitter and getting a break from Stella (who goes off barking at me everytime I get upset about the bugs) for a week might be a good thing for me. It seemed to be, but I'm still very attached to the "green room" and won't eat my raw meaty bones outside unless it is dark out. Some days I run outside off the deck like nothing in the world bothers me, but those days are more the exception now than the rule. My girl is taking me to my vet later this week to see if there might be something physical that could account for any of this behavior. Do any of you or your parents have any idea what might help me or do you know anydog who has dealt with some kind of phobia or OCD-type response to something in their environment?

By the way, my girl has tried to desensitize me to the backyard like Cesar Milan did with that dog that was afraid of tiled floors. But, the problem with my issue is that it involves bugs, who really do buzz around me even if my girl is standing there with me in the yard exerting calm assertiveness. She's trying to find an email address for the dog trainer, Victoria, on "It's Me or the Dog" to see if she has any advice.

So, if you could help a pup out and let me know if you have any ideas about what's going on with me or any suggestions as to how to work through this problem, my girl and I would be forever grateful!