dog park

My dog is a nervous wreck. I am convinced she has some psychological issues. Perhaps the years of being raised in a Jewish home are finally taking their toll, because her neuroses are definitely getting the better of her. Her reaction to the dishwasher being turned on is much like the reaction one would have when being confronted by a 10 foot great white shark while enjoying a swim at dusk. Shock. Panic. Perhaps a little bit of disbelief and a hint of hysteria. She will stop whatever the hell it is she is doing and make a mad dash for the closest exit she can find. Now the problem with that is to our little dog, the wooden flooring might as well be an ice-rink, and in her mad-dashing around she frequently falls on her face after a cartoon-like attempt to stop running on the spot. This is traumatic for the poor dog, as you can imagine.

Once we reach the panic-stricken animal, we find she exhibits typical signs of shock - her heart banging against her rib-cage, gasping for breath etc... Now if this problem were confined to a noisy dishwasher we could probably handle that. But every unexpected sound has this dog sprinting around the room like rat on Redbull, and the first few times I was very sympathetic and tried to console the pup like I would a good friend. Now I just think she's plain nuts.