Fraidy Dog

There are a few things my dog Angel isn't afraid of - she loves her ball...if you throw it once, you WILL have to throw it a million times. She loves her stick (in the picture) it's rubbery plastic, and there's holes to stick kibble in it. She loves company (too much...we're working on getting her not to love them to death when they come in). She loves socks and underwear, which she will pull out of the vents in everyones laundry hampers in their room and bring out into the middle of the living room (usually in front of company) when we're not paying enough attention to her. And, she LOVES the mailman. She knows the sound of the mail truck. He gives her treats every single day. She hears his truck coming down the road, and she gets all excited, tail a-waggin'. One time, she got out of the house (she doesn't stick around too well) and the mail truck was going by - she chased him down the street. The only problem was, our regular mailman was sick, so there was a substitute mailman. BIG PROBLEM! Anyone watching out their window would have had a good chuckle - the mailman just kept delivering mail, and Angel kept chasing the truck, and I was running like a maniac yelling "Get back here, Angel!" I did finally catch up, and snatched her up and carried her home...about a mile down the road!

Well, while Angel is a happy-go-lucky kind of dog, she is also a fraidy cat. Big time. That's what first attracted me to her. Really. When I picked her out, she was the runt of the litter and nobody wanted her because she was spooked over EVERYTHING. Just afraid, the poor thing! My heart went out to her, so she was the one I wanted. (Mike was like, "Really, Pennie? THAT one?") She's still afraid of many things - odd things like vents (If her ball rolls on a vent, she'll tiptoe around it, trying to nose the ball off the vent without touching it, but if she can't nose it off without touching the vent, she'll leave her ball). She's frightened by people speaking through the banisters on our stairs, bags, the ironing board, hats, and anything that makes a loud noise. She'll just shudder and shake. Sometimes she'll run behind me if there's a certain person she's afraid of (especially if they're wearing a hat with a big brim or visor).

Yesterday, I was walking her in the morning, and I heard the snow plow coming at us before I saw it coming over the hill. Angel's afraid of cars, so I expected Angel to be afraid. The engine of the snow plow was really loud to begin with, but the scraping sound of the blade on the road added to what I assumed she would think was a scary sound. I tried to pull her over the snow bank and into the snow, and she wouldn't budge! It was as if the 10 pound dog was a 100 pound beast!??? I yanked her over as I saw the plow nearing, so she wouldn't get chopped to shreds. I was a little confused...then all of a sudden she started yipping and pulling ME after the snow plow as it passed, all excited - I think she thought it was the MAILMAN! I had to laugh! I got my exercise, because she had me jogging down the street. Again, another comedy scene - the snowplow, with a little yippy dog excitedly chasing it, pulling me on her leash.

I love that dog!