Sheba is not a fool proof dog. She has failed as an alarm on a few occasions, like this morning. She has an annoying habit of waking us up anytime around 6. She would nuzzle with her wet nose me, then him. If that doesn’t work, she would bark and bark till we can’t stand it anymore. I never worry about sleeping in. This morning our alarm didn’t go off till 7:30.

It’s not that we have a job to go to. It’s Saturday. I go swimming Saturday mornings when I can look forward to having a lane to myself at the pool. Imagine my surprise when I saw that it was 7:30. I suppose I could still get to there for 8. It’s a bit harsh to jump out of bed, get dressed, pack my stuff and dash to the car. So I fed the beast and put the kettle on. In the back of my mind I probably had a secret wish of sleeping in. Saturdays I am always torn between the love of the swim and nesting at home. The latter won today. I shelved the guilt and decided to enjoy.

The other time that Sheba flunked her dog alarm duty was this summer. We/our block had a break in. Our garages in the backyard were broken into. The doors were jimmied. The thieves made off with stuff. They even took a bike under the deck which was by our bedroom. The window was opened. Sheba never made a move or whimper. We were quite ignorant till after breakfast when the guy was taking Sheba for her walk. The garage door was wide open. Quite a few things were missing including his cordless drill which he had just purchased to replace the one stolen in his truck.

So nothing is fool proof including a dog who can hear me peeling a banana in a different room. She can see out the back of her head. She sees things happening in the front street when she’s in the back. Yet 2-3 thieves can sneak off with a recumbent tricycle right under her nose. I guess dogs do sleep in and sleep on the job.

I swear sometimes she is more human than canine. Did I tell you about the time she was wracked with anxiety? It was the most awful time. It started slowly. The first time she was humping her pillow. Suddenly she stopped and came running, squealing to me. She was like a child. Then it escalated from occasional bouts to all the time. She wouldn’t eat unless someone was sitting with her by her food bowl. Even then she was checking over her shoulders. She stopped playing with her toys. Then she wouldn’t sleep. She would be standing by our bed in the dark, panting. I tried sleeping with her on the floor but that didn’t work well either. It was time to see the vet.

She checked out physically. Then it was behavioral modification. We kicked her out of the bedroom. We listened to her whine through the closed door. I noticed that she had a lot of dandruff and was shedding a lot. I googled and googled. I started to give her Jamieson Wild Salmon and Fish Omega-3, 1000 mg./day. It took awhile for the dandruff and shedding to improve. Her anxiety was to the point of me ready to medicate her. She must have sensed it. She started sleeping at night. I held my breath. Things improved gradually. She started eating by herself and playing with her toys again. Now, she’s completely her old happy self.