Is your dog afraid of thunderstorms?

I live in the desert, and rain is always an occasion for joy.  After almost two months of sunshine and a week of the weatherman’s no good promises, it finally rained today.  I sat outside, just watching, for almost an hour.  I made coffee and listened to Joni Mitchell.

In my frantic gratitude, I kind of forgot about what my dog was up to.  Delinquent, guilty mom, I started looking around in his usual spots.  No luck.  hmm…

Finally, I called for him, and a terrified little black face emerged from the closet.  Stranger, when scared, seems much smaller.  His ears curl in, and his entire body kind of gravitates into a curl.  After calling him  a few times, he crawled out and went straight for my lap, taking shelter.

It was the weirdest thing.  Stranger is not afraid of too many things.  He’s one of those dogs you worry about being friendly to moving cars or robbers, overly eager and curious.  But there was a lot of thunder, and I was outside.

Luckily for him, the sky’s cleared up again and the only ruckus is my radio, which he also seems weary of.