Neurotic Dog

Oscar the Happy Dog has a tendency to fixate on things. If he loses a toy under a piece of furniture, he will spend hours trying to retrieve it. He also has irrational fears. For a few years now, he's been afraid of his water bowl. He knows he has to drink, so he gathers his courage, stands as far away as possible, and cautiously drinks as quickly as he can. And even then, his legs tremble, and he often has to jerk away several times and start over. Changing the bowl doesn't work. Changing the bowl's location doesn't work. Nobody knows why he's so afraid of drinking water.

Over the past few days, he's developed a new fear: leaving the bedroom. He'll sit at the doorway and whine for an hour. He can get about two steps out, but that's it. Then, he's frozen. I can coax him out, but this morning when I did so, he was so anxious, he peed as he crossed that threshold. Poor guy. Why this new fear? I'm clueless. Strangely, he can walk into the bedroom just fine. It's only walking the other way that frightens him....

He's a fun dog, though - more energetic than most, and a great lover of the game of fetch. He even catches things in mid-air most of the time. He loves to play with Kenzie, and he follows me from room to room. He looks exactly like a giant dachshund, and you can read every emotion on his face. He and Alaska (or "Laska"), our other wonderful mutt, get along fabulously.

Now, if I could only convince him that nothing bad will happen when he leaves the bedroom....



Kenzie and Oscar a few years ago (both a bit bigger, now).