Ears That Hear It All

 

After living with a mostly-deaf dog (Tucker) for so many years, I am having to adapt to living with "She-Who-Hears-Everything." I think for a dog as timid as Lizzie having such keen hearing is detrimental to her peace of mind. Here are some examples of her hear-everything and be-very-afraid personality:

  • She is terribly afraid of thunderstorms. She sticks her head behind me to hide whenever possible.
  • She jerks out of a sound sleep frequently when almost anything is making noise inside or outside our home.
  • When she's outside she's torn between being happy to be outside and being frightened by all of the scary sounds out there.
  • During our walks, if she hears anything that sounds remotely like "squirrel" she is ready to "go get 'em!" Of course, once that chase is over she reverts back to her usual timid self.
  • She's the first companion animal I've had that pays attention to the television. So much so, she is "done in" by all of the threatening sounds. (Witness her reaction to the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park—ears at alert, eyes bugging, trembling, squeaking, and trying to back into my lap!)
  • She is a major head-tilter. She tilts her head very often. My husband makes lots of sounds just to get Miss Lizzie to tilt her head. Thankfully, during these instances she looks curious and not frightened.
Some days she has more of those curious dog head-tilts than the "scaredy-dog," eyes bugging, wanna run away reactions.

Wouldn't it be nice if she did mostly the first and hardly any of the latter?

Hopefully she will in time.

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