Dakota is a Scaredy-Cat

We have a new problem in Cubby World, and her name is Dakota! Dakota just turned five years old, and she has recently developed a fear of thunderstorms. We don't really understand why.

It all started when we had a thunderstorm and lightning hit something very close to our place. It was very loud and it also knocked out our cable, which made the TV turn to snow. Dakota hates that very loud snow sound on the TV. She is sensitive to loud noises of any kind. So it was a double whammy of scary loud noises. She acted scared and crazy through that whole storm.

To our dismay, when the next storm hit last week, Dakota once again went into panic mode. She kept trying to sit on the back of the couch like a cat, which means she was half-sitting on the table, too! Not a popular choice with the moms.

As you can see, they even tried putting a t-shirt on her. They learned that trick from Meeshka's mom. It had little affect on my Dakota. They finally had to put her in her crate to settle Her Freakiness down. But like a dutiful boy, when mom opened the door of the crate and told Dakota to go to bed, I went in. Then, Miss Big came in after me and mom shut the door. Dakota's crate is not big enough for both of us, and I don't sit in a crate with the door shut, even by myself.

Even though mom let me right out (after taking the picture), I was not happy. I am thinking the next time the thunder starts, maybe I'll just bite Dakota. The pain should distract her from her fear, since the shirt did not. She needs to remember that I am the one with the anxiety problem, and she should not try to usurp my issue. If I let this continue, next she'll be slobbering on ME when the moms leave the house. Not acceptable!