Sirius - the Dog Star?
Well, it's also the name of my dog [part deerhound, with saluki, bearded collie and greyhound as other contributing breeds].
And he is a star at being an oaf; in fact, an absolute buffoon.
He is twenty-two months old and has no courage and very little ego.
He is also quite agoraphobic, and would rather run up and down my garden hell-for-leather than go for a walk in the real world.
It's been quite a journey, trying to give him some confidence. Now, at least, he doesn't completely empty himself in the car.
I used to call him "Three-Mile-Island dog", because if I took him out in the car, after three miles he'd have created a huge island of digestive system contents, from both ends,on my back seat.
Thankfully, he's grown out of that now.
Anything unusual in my garden, which is an oasis for wild birds [in a very bleak housing estate] with mostly trees and bushes throughout, used to start him off.
One time, some weeks after he'd been stung by a wasp, he was barking so persistently that I had to intervene. It was a bee.
It's like women screaming. I just don't "get" why evolution has selected for creatures that express their anxiety so readily. Surely that's just asking for trouble from predators?
He was barking with that nervous "edge" to his voice again another time, and I found that the object of his distress this time was a tiny baby blackbird, cowering at the base of a treetrunk.
He's an intelligent dog, and can work out the solutions to quite amazing problems on his own, so why does he insist on shouting at things he fears?
The most recent time was about a month ago.
The doors to my conservatory and back garden were open and he was standing in the conservatory, shouting very angrily and even growling a little.
I went to investigate and shoved his hindquarters to encourage him to go out so I could get through and see what the problem was.
Instead of leading me into the garden, as I had expected, he backed past me and WOULD NOT go outside or even budge.
I took his collar to lead him out and he turned tail and ran straight through to the other side of the house.
Now, he's huge, height-wise, and you'd expect a dog that size to at least try to have an ego, but no.
I chuckled out loud when I went outside.
He'd been given a new teddy, his favourite type of toy, and had left it about ten feet from the back door, face-down, and hadn't a clue what this huge white monster was that sat there, all fuzzy, looming and scary.
Idiot.
He saw me defeat the teddy monster by picking it up and so he came wobbling out, how young dogs do, his ears back and head circling in a playful way, asking me to throw it for him.
Then came Guy Fawkes night, tonight.
Last year he'd had company for this particular date because we had a slightly smaller dog of the same age staying with us for a few months, and she did wonders for his confidence, bless her.
[I found her a fantastic home, and she seems blissfully happy now. She needed to be an "only dog", and her stay here was only ever meant to be temporary.]
The back doors were open as usual, until the first bang, when he came bolting in and skidded on the floor tiles in his hasty attempt to get upstairs, crashing into the opposite wall.
I followed to check on him and there he was, buried into my bedclothes, doing that "Lassie-Come-Home" whimper.
A pillow had ended up over his head and I wish I'd had the means to photograph it.
Reminded me of Scooby Doo, wimping out. =D
Poor dog - nothing! I cannot take him seriously, because he never says afraid for long and he truly is such a massive wimp at first.
He ventured downstairs ten minutes later, stuck his nose out of the cat flap and FLASHBANG! - suddenly he was a dog blur tearing up the stairs again.
When my previous dog, Bodi, a german shepherd cross, was a puppy, he was absolutely fine with loud fireworks, but when he faced his back to the bonfire [we'd let him lead us a little way into the field to investigate] he began growling and his hackles went up. I turned to see that he was afraid of his OWN enormous shadow projected on the wall behind us.
Bodi was hardly ever afraid, Sirius is another matter altogether.
I know it isn't nice to find humour in another's fear, but it was so funny; he's such a goon.
He can't be fierce, so why does he bother? With his droopy saluki fur he hasn't even got hackles!
He may look like the stunt double for the Hound of the Baskervilles, but he's be better qualified to do the voice-overs for Lassie the Wonderdog!
Not long after his second retreat he was happy to go outside, even with fireworks going off.
I just had to go out first and show him it was okay.
At least it shows he trusts me. I think I must be HIS guard dog!
My six-year-old grandson pronounces his name "serious". He should have really been called Hilarious instead.
