Category Archives: Thunderstorms

05

May. ’15

We Interrupt This Night Of Sleep For A Thunderstorm

So…two things happened at the same time last night at 2:00am. I woke up to three golden retrievers standing on and around me and I heard a very loud close crack of thunder.  Lora our trainer would be proud, as I was coming out of the fog of sleep I heard myself say, “Yea! Thunder!…

After I persuaded the pups that I was awake and to get off of me, I got up to go shut windows closely followed by three 4 footed window shutting supervisors.  When we final made it down the stairs  we woke up Lucy kitty who could have cared less about the storm and let us know we were disturbing her sleep. Sorry Girl!

Windows shut I told the pups that it was still bedtime and we were going back to bed. They again closely followed me back up the stairs to bed where they proceeded to let Greg know all that was going on. After a bit with several Yea thunders and “it’s fine” added to the mix we managed to get everyone settled down and when we turned the lights back off Bonnie was curled up between Greg and I, Belle was on the floor as close to my side of the bed as she could get, and Bess stationed herself in hallway where she occasionally would snuffle growl at the distancing thunder.

Thinking back on it the pups woke us up in a manner true to their personalities.  Bess stood on me and expected me to get up. We are still working on the fact that something being stood on by a 50 + pound pup doesn’t move too easily, pretty much the way if we stand in the way of the door it won’t open. She starting to understand, it takes time.

Belle maneuvered between me and Bess and alternatively licked my face and used her head with all of her 60+ pounds behind it to nudge me off of the bed.  Bonnie also 60+ pounds was on the bed getting some licks in but upon seeing her sisters getting the job done decided to let them take care of it.

All in all it didn’t take too long maybe 45 minutes to get everyone settled back down. Just enough of an interruption in sleep that Bonnie at 6:00am is already taking a nap!

Posted by . Categories: Anxiety, Golden Retrievers, Thunderstorms. Tags: , , . 5 Comments

07

Apr. ’15

Bess’s First Thunder Storm

So…. last night we decided to see how Bess pup who is 6 months old would handle sleeping upstairs with her sisters and Greg and I uncrated.

The only areas the pups have access to overnight is the hallway and our. Even then Bess was pretty antsy and she just didn’t quite know what to do because you know there were lots of good smells to sniff and lots of exploring to do.

Then all of a sudden there was a flash of light and a few seconds later some fairly loud rumbling.  Bess immediately started barking  to let us know there was something going on.  Belle jumped up on the bed to nudge me off of the bed to go take care of whatever that was. Bonnie stood at the ready to see what we were going to do.

Our dog trainer Lora during one of Bess’s puppy classes told us to make thunderstorms a party so puppies can handle the storms better.  Remembering that, I thought to myself how do you have a party at 11:30 at night, well by turning it into a slumber party of course.  Calling the pups to come with me we headed downstairs, it had been several months since we had had a thunderstorm so all three dogs were stuck like glue to my side.  We had cuddle time during the worst of the storm, yes, it is possible to cuddle three golden retrievers weighing between 50- 60 some lbs each at the same time. When the storm started to move away I grabbed a quilt and settled down in our oversized recliner for the night.  Bonnie decided to share the chair with me, Bess was happily laying on the floor about a foot from me, and Belle was curled up on the couch also about a foot from me.   Linus and Lucy kitties weren’t bothered by the storm but they did curl up on the chair with me to give their support. Thanks Kitties!

This morning Bess woke me up by gently laying her head on my arm, saying “it’s morning, I need to go outside please.”  After checking things out I discovered that Bess did well being uncrated all night, there were no accidents and nothing was chewed up, so we’ll give it another try tonight, hopefully there won’t be any storms to add to the fun so we can sleep upstairs.

Posted by . Categories: Anxiety, British Cream Golden Retrievers, Golden Retrievers, Kitties, Pets, Thunderstorms. Tags: , , , , , . 4 Comments