Poor Chimi. He is probably the most neurotic dog that ever was born. If it wasn't for his incredible sweetness, constant need to give affection and gentleness with every person he has ever met, he would be a pound puppy (not really.) Today was meltdown number 3,402. (I'm making that up, but the actual number could be higher.) I've blogged about just a fraction of them including the time the DVD case slid off the arm of the chair next to where he was laying, or when the bottom of Linda's book brushed his back, any time he has come within 10 feet of a plastic grocery bag, brushes dropping on the floor, the wind blowing anything, running on the leash, etc, etc, etc. One of the worst freak-outs happened when we bought our new kitchen table into the house. It was in a big box (boxes are probably in the top three things he hates) in our hallway. Linda kind of forgot about his fear of boxes until today. There are no pictures because she actually felt bad for him and didn't prolong his terror by running to find the iPhone.
Sidebar:
Today Linda finally found an amazing sale on the Kitchen Aid mixer so she went ahead and bought it. She used it right away to make
these delicious Iced Oatmeal Cookies. (Funny story, Sarah made the exact same cookies yesterday and was going to bring some over to Linda today!)
Chimi was super excited to meet Linda at the door when she came home from the store until he saw the big heavy box come through the door ahead of her. It was as if someone pressed the panic button! He couldn't get enough traction on the hardwood floor to get out of there fast enough. Linda took the mixer out of the box (leaving the empty box on the floor in the hall) read the instructions then started to make the cookie dough. Chim was still off hiding in the shower stall so she kind of forgot about the box being there. Later on when she called him to come for his food, he came racing down the hall from the bedroom and ran straight into the box! It's a good thing he didn't have a heart attack right then and there. He wouldn't even eat his chicken until she put the box and mixer in the storage room. Even then he would take a bite off his plate and run to hide while he ate it.
Linda got Chimi when he was a wee-born puppy. He did live with his brothers, sisters and birth parents until he was weaned. The people who owned his parents seemed super nice. The house was clean and pretty, he had a yard to run in and a comfy-warm place to sleep. Linda has never done anything mean or weird to him to make him so frightened. It's unusual for a dog to be so friendly and trusting to anyone he meets, but be afraid of ordinary objects. If a stranger comes into our house, Chim has an instant new best friend and won't leave their side for a second. If the person lets him, Chim will sit in their lap and kiss them the entire time. When it is time for his new friend to leave, he'll get super sad and beg to go with them.
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| I wonder what his sibling pups are doing now? |
He probably needs some kind of Prozac medicine for dogs. Maybe she should try to desensitize him and put him inside a big box with a book, DVD case, plastic bags, brushes and then turn a light fan on him to create wind. Cesar Milan actually did something similar to a dog who was afraid of lights and noises and it totally worked in just a few hours. She couldn't ever do that to Chimi though. It would make her feel too bad to see him cry.
