Let me start by saying that my dog is actually scared of more than three things. He is freaky about brooms, weather (rain, wind, thunder, lightning), bubble wrap, power tools, blenders, hair shears, any beeping coming from a computer, crowds, and the list goes on. But, there three phobias that I feel define my dog.
First, Cats in a Box.
My dog is not scared of cats or boxes, but he is scared of cats in boxes. If you open the box to expose the cat he will look past the cat and search the inside of the box for the “thing that was scary”. This fear can be transferred to cats in cupboards, behind doors or under blankets. But a cat in a box is the worst.
Second, Dead Rabbits
We found a dead rabbit while hiking one day. Most dogs might consider a dead rabbit a great toy. Other dogs might want to roll around on it (especially if it’s gooey). My dog’s reaction was his hackles going up and his eyes getting very large. He was visibly shaken. I tried to show him that it was okay by poking it with a stick. All this did was make him shake in terror and put his tail between his legs. To relieve his terror we continued our hike. As we walked he kept glancing over his shoulder just to make sure that the rabbit didn’t become reanimated, or something, and follow us.
Third, Camping.
I thought dogs liked camping.
From the moment we pitched the tent he was giving us a look that said, “Well, that was great. Can we go home now?” This look is accompanied by waiting eagerly by the car door. To be fair, when I first got him out of the car a squirrel crawled down a tree that was behind us and proceeded to yell at my dog and I. (A squirrel yell is something like a mighty screech). After I had taken my boy to do his poops and got back to camp, my daughter stated that as she was setting up camp a squirrel came down a tree and yelled at her. It was funny until my husband came over from getting wood and said that the weirdest thing happened. A squirrel came down a tree and yelled at him. I suspect it was the same squirrel in each case. We stayed on guard the rest of the day.
The rest of the trip was uneventful. No squirrel incidents. But the dog remained shaken.
As we returned from camping and turned up our street my dog perked up, stood up on his hind legs, stared out all the windows and screamed. I am NOT kidding. He actually screamed! He was home. He knows his street and his house. I think that he thought that camping was how we were going to spend the rest of our lives. I can’t seem to explain to him the concept of vacations.
Note: If you have any trouble viewing the drawings just click on them to get them at full size.
Tags: badbird, box, camping, cat, cats, dog, fear, phobia, puppy, rabbit, scared, tent, zuill
Oh my goodness, this post (the drawings AND the narrative) had my husband & I laughing our butts off!! Glad to know we aren’t the only ones with dogs who have . . . interesting . . . fears. (One of our dogs avoids wet grass, puddles, and any other wet-paw situations at all costs. Good thing we have various areas of concrete and also stepping stones in our backyard!)
awesome post and illustrations! i have a chocolate lab that is afraid of water!
My beagle, Fred, used to be scared to pieces of his self-refilling water bowl. The “glug-glug-glug” would scare him off.
I think I love your dog. All of the word balloons in the camping picture could easily be me. Your dog is my totem animal.
This is hilarious! And he’s right about camping, you know. Those walls are useless in a bear attack. I like the IDEA of camping, though. Nice IDEA.
Your dog and my dog need to see the same therapist. Love it.
I love these bits and the drawings … you are so creative … and funny, thanks for sharing!!!
Too funny. When I was a kid we had a dog that was part black lab and part husky – she was afraid of thunder and gun shots (don’t blame her about that). My cat loves to go out the living room window onto the porch, and when I say “out the window?” she’s right there. Once the window is open, she sits on the floor looking at for about 10 minutes, walks away, comes back, and about 30 minutes later finally goes out the window. She hates the music of an on-line game I play and keeps coming into the room and yelling at me. We won’t even begin to discuss having to go outside into the car – an extremely traumatic experience for her!
Hi Andrea! I came by your booth this weekend and absolutely loved your stuff. Sad I am on a budget cause that watercolor owl in your shop slays me. I posted a photo I took on my blog if you care to look
http://www.beansandink.com/2011/05/north-park-arts-festival/
Andrea, I have tears of laughter about the screaming squirrel and the dog screaming when it saw home. The whole camping adventure was just a stitch. My lab/husky HATES squirrels. She is afraid of thunder and refuses to go outside if it’s been raining because she knows thunder could happen at any moment. She does not like water either, if it is clean water. If it is stinky pond water, she’s in it like a flash. Go figure. Thanks for the chuckles!
Love your camping story! My dog was afraid of squirrels too. so is my hubby. he literally runs like the squirrel is going to attack him!
great drawings. you should think about doing a comic book!
Oh I love your post and your drawings really get straight to the point.
Our dog has so many fears, including other dogs, cats and humans (which is a difficult one, though she is slowly getting better at it). Strangely enough though, she sees other small animals as friends and toys, too bad she tends to pick agressive geese and swans…
She likes to sit on the sofa, from where she can see the front door, if anyone goes up to the door, she’ll jump down and hide under the table half the time.