Things that go bang

 

Forgive me if I look a bit puzzled here, but I'd just had this scarf thing tied round my neck and I had no idea what it was for or why it was there.

Something to do with going out for the day and getting the trembles and shakes, I think.

It all started last November in my garden when the world around me suddenly erupted into loud bangs and flashes. I was very scared because this happened when I'd just gone outside to do you-know-what. I managed to hide and lodged myself behind the water butt and some garden canes and I got stuck. The humans came to find me and I was a mass of shaky, quivering jelly when I got in and needed a fair bit of TLC to calm me down.

Blooming fireworks. [Ed. the nearby fireworks were let off way ahead of Bonfire night.]

Now I pant and get quite wobbly and shaky if there are sudden strange bumps and noises on the TV. I sit near or on one of my humans laps and that helps. I do notice there's a lot of this noise in some TV programmes and my human's have noticed it too so they turn the sound down and I usually go to a safe place behind the sofa.

Blooming fireworks again. That's where it all began.

Then I started getting anxious when we were going out in the car, and worst of all, when we were setting off or an adventure in my campervan. My humans have got something to help with this though - some tablets to help me stay calm and a calming spray.

The human who feeds me sprays the bed I travel in when we go out in my campervan, and Dave the Vet told her to spray this special stuff on a scarf and put it round my neck so it would be really close to my exquisitely sensitive nose. That's why I look a bit... well... miffed in that photo.

The humans have also given me some calming tablets to help - must have been on that day earlier in the week when I was so relaxed I felt blissed out and nothing bothered me. The human who feeds me was making jokes about dogs on drugs (what are they?). Anyway, they made me feel heaps better and I've not been getting the collywobbles very much since then.

[Ed. Bosworth has symptoms which are common in many dogs who react to the sound of fireworks, but this has extended to noises from builders working on houses and he sound of guns being fired by shooting of wildlife in the surrounding countryside - not something I or anyone I know would condone. Dave the Vet has suggested Bosworth has a form of separation anxiety and to use the medication and spray when needed. Bosworth's tolerance of unexpected noises is slowly improving, with a lot of TLC to go with the meds and spray. As yet there is nothing we can do about unexpected scenes on TV, such as the singing hump-backed whales on an Attenborough programme which completely freaked him out.....]

 

A dog's eye view of 2020

2020 was quite a year wasn't it? Made me remember what I'd been up and how it was for me - dog's eye view and all that. The humans seemed OK but I do recall times of them saying they were getting a bit fed up, but the mood passed when they hoisted me up on to the sofa or their laps for a bit of fuss and a cuddle. I think (hope) I've been doing all I can just by being there. I do love the fuss too....

January

Visiting family from other places (one of them is in somewhere called the US), with grandchildren who adore me, return home so it's just me and the 2 humans again. We go to watch birds and it's very cold. Another dog there is as bored as I am. We go in my campervan for a couple of nights to a place by the sea. It's still cold but I get lots of walks, so it's more interesting.

February

We go away for a few nights in my campervan to a place called Rutland. The humans watch birds again. It's very, very wet and muddy, cold too. We go for a VERY cold walk in a big country estate. I liked that because it wasn't raining. Then we had to go home because there was a big storm on the way.

March

The humans go to stay with the family in that US place and leave me behind. I stay with Uncle Steve and Auntie Donna and have a whale of a time but the humans come back early, so I go back to my home. The humans have to rush home before all flights (in plane things that fly) were cancelled. I think everywhere was starting to close down very fast because of this coronavirus thing that suddenly everyone was talking about. Hmmmm. Well, now we know what that was all about. It's not gone away yet either. Everywhere goes into lockdown just after we all get home. My humans sort of keep themselves to themselves and don't see anyone for a couple of weeks in case they've got this virus thing. We go out for one walk a day (all we're allowed) but we go very late at night when no-one is about and there are owls hooting, foxes barking, and we see lots of hedgehogs. I try to sniff one and it rolls into a big spiky ball. There are no cars about, or planes. It's very quiet, I like it.

April 

More of the same. The human who feeds me has her choir sessions on something called Zoom (don't ask) and does lots of singing and laughing.

May

The weather is warm and I spend a lot of time in my garden patrolling the borders, sniffing in the corners to check if I can see Holly the Cat from next door, and I enjoy lying in the sunshine. The human who does "school" with me does lots of gardening and I spend chill out time with him.

June

More of the same, but now we can go out for awaydays in my campervan but not stay overight, so we go to the local nature park for walks and meet up one day with human friends and have a picnic under the van's awning and all stay apart from each other. I'm in the shade under the chair. It was a hot day and I wore my cool coat when we walked.

July

More of the same again, but the lockdown rukes eased off and campsites were open, so we took my campervan away to stay in it, and went to the campsite near beaches on the Wirral, and then to a place called Chirk. Brilliant! Sleeping in my van again. Lots of walks on beaches, in woods and by a canal, Loved it!

 

August

The human's daughter came to stay and as I love being with her - and she brings her cat - it's always interesting when she's around. And we went out for awaydays in the van so I was happy.

September

We had a great time as campsites were open, so we went for a proper longer holiday trip in my campervan to Devon. Lots of walks on the cliff paths, lots of beaches. Bliss.

October

Uh-oh. Things not looking quite so good as the virus cases begin to rise, but yes, we take the opportunity of still being able to go away in my van and travel to Norfolk, where there are huge empty beaches. Loved it. You can read about it here. I even had a hair do on the way, which I sort of enjoyed - see here for more.

November

Yep, things go dodgy again with lots more people getting the virus, so we had another lockdown - only it wasn't quite like the first one in March as we could do more things. But it was back to the awayday trips to the nature park for some good walks as a lot of campsites had to close again....

December

 ....but the one not far away, at a place called Southport, was still open so we went to stay for two nights (chilly but still bliss in my van, which gets toasty warm). Then suddenly it was out with the Christmas tree thing they have, daughter and cat came to stay, there were lots of presents around and I got a blue flashing light collar to wear in the dark. And what's more, it snowed!!

Most of the year I've enjoyed - I'm easy to please and easy to get along with - but one thing I've HATED is fireworks.

In November the world around me suddenly erupted into loud bangs and flashes. I was very scared because this happened when I'd just gone into the garden to do you-know-what. I managed to hide and lodged myself behind the water butt and some garden canes and I got stuck. The humans came to find me and I was a mass of shaky, quivering jelly when I got in and needed a fair bit of TLC to calm me down. It happened so suddenly as it was very quiet when I went out. 

Then in December the same thing happened twice on the same night, first at 11pm when there were bangs and flashes to mark this crazy Brexit thing, which means I can no longer use my wonderful Pet Passport when we take my campervan abroad. And then again at midnight when it became 2021. I quivered and panted and the humans helped me through it.

I do sometimes wonder about some of the other humans around though, and if they're all quite there in the head.