Monday, February 6, 2012

Precious Moment

Readers: This has not been a good day for me!! Nope!! I have dealt with a consistent headache.... All day long!! So, I've also felt somewhat stressed, overwhelmed, edgy.... While every petty thing annoyed me!! Sigh.... But, Rose has been my wonderful Comfort Dog, and writing somehow always works as a "cure" for these sort of situations!! Hopefully this blog post will make sense....


Rose, like countless other canines, suffers from a psychological condition called noise phobia. Fireworks, thunder and lightning, our super-sensitive smoke alarm.... Any uncertain "bump in the night" can send her into panic attack mode. Even hail or rainstorms affect Rose!! Occasionally, depending on how loud the noise source, she will tremble. Exploding bottle rockets and thunder evokes this!! Or she will escape "our" bed to find a "safe" place. Rainstorms evoke that.... Lately, weather around here has involved dishonest clear blue skies, and wild Winter winds. No uprooted trees thus far, but our backyard lawn furniture was blown over long ago!! So the other night, I sat on my bed, stroking Rose's velvet-soft fur, reading. When, suddenly, there was this faint noise!! Which I heard too. It came from somewhere outside. I watched Rose nonchalantly, never knowing how she will react. Some noises cause panic, others do nothing!! She jerked her head up, perked those "Beagle" ears, and froze. My hand continued to touch Rose's fur, as if our noise was merely imaginary. I resumed reading. Faint as it may have been, however, our noise was not imaginary, and I knew that!! Rose cautiously stepped off my bed. She exited the room. I followed her. She was headed toward our great room. I watched Rose nervously lie down against the couch. I sat by my mongrel's side, casually stroking her soft fur. Then.... Something magical happened. Rose rested her sweet head on my lap!! She was cuddling!! This was truly a magical occurrence. Rose loves my companionship, and relishes our time spent together. But.... Cuddle? She does not do that.... Rose is the kind of dog who feels "smothered" if I lie next to her!! Seriously!! Nonetheless, here she was, fearful and insecure, resting her head on my lap!! Oh, what a precious moment....

8 comments:

Charlene and Storm said...

ahhh thats nice, isnt it lovely when you get a quick special cuddle. storm is so not into hugs, hopefully as he matures he might but so far ive only had 2 times i can remember where he has just rested his head on my lap for less than a minute and that was wonderful :)
normally the most i get is in the morning as im just waking up he will come over and smack me on the face and this morning i have a lovely scratch on my cheek from it LOL!!!

Katrin said...

awe that is a very sweet situation and I'm glad that Rose trusts you enough to feel you are her "safe person" that is wonderful :-)

PS Any chance you'd be willing to remove CAPTCHA/word verification from your commenting to make your blog accessible to people with vision disabilities? Thanks! :-)

Stacey said...

aww, i love it when dogs snuggle! i'm a right cuddler and since i've had molly since birth she completely accepts it and quite enjoys it. I think Jess is more like Rose though and can feel smothered too! hope your headache is ok now!

Mary Lou said...

Charlene and Storm....
Thank-you for the comment!!
Same thing with Rose.... I can only count, like, two or three occasions when she has cuddled me!! That is why they are magical!! ;op

Mary Lou said...

Katrin....
Thank-you for commenting!!
Sorry about the word verification difficulty. I will attempt to have that corrected promptly.... ;-}

Mary Lou said...

Stacey....
Thank-you for commenting!!
Ah, the promise of a brand new day.... And with it, my headache is better.... Thanks for asking!! ;-D

Ruby said...

Oh how sweet! See, all that time and energy you have poured out on her has paid off- she trusts you and feels comfortable with you! I know you say you get a lot of benefits from Rose, but she benefits from having you too!

Glad your headache is better!

Mary Lou said...

Ruby....
Thank-you for the comment!!
Very true. Very, very, very true!! I appreciated that reminder.... Thank-you, Ruby!! ;)