In Training

I have said before that having a dog is like training for having a kid. It's like parenthood-lite. Last night was no exception.

We had an explosive thunderstorm last night. The lightning and thunder was nothing short of impressive. Aiden does not like lightning and thunder. Like at all. It usually sends her into a fit of pacing and panting until the storm is over. Many times the pacing gives way to sitting on my pillow while panting. Last night there wasn't so much pacing as there was just making sure I was awake to be tormented by the thunderstorm gods with her. Every time I was able to ignore the storm long enough to fall asleep, she would nudge my arm, flip the covers up, or paw at the bed. Pretty much anything to make sure I knew she was scared. Once again, it's a good thing she's cute.

All I could do was scratch her head when she would hold still long enough and try to talk calmly to her to let her know everything was going to be ok. Neither action really made a difference. The only time I got her to calm down, was when I could coax into laying down next to me under the covers. All I could think was that we are going to have a really full bed if this kid gets scared of thunderstorms too! It will be me rearranging half the bed with the dog and the kid so I can try to sleep while protecting everyone from the evils of lightning and thunder...and Trav sawing logs on the other half. Good thing he's cute too.