My dogs hate Halloween. We live a block from an elementary school, and they have a Halloween parade every year. First, lots of parents come and park along the street in front of the house. All the SUV door slams and ordinary street conversations get GK all flinchy. Then the parade itself starts, led by the high school marching band, which means drums and music that is not supposed to be there, followed by hundreds of costume-wearing children all happy and squealing. The parade starts pretty much in front of our house, then circles around the block, then passes back in front of the house again on the way back to the school. This means we see it twice. From Kirby's perspective, hell reigns, then goes away, and just when you think it's safe to come out from under the bed, hell comes back. Scary.
From YB's point of view, the noise is no biggie. However, when the parade circles back around, he can see it coming towards him out the window. Because "his" (really, mine) territory appears to be under attack, he has to bark to scare them away. I had my work at home day today. With Teeks carrying on, I decided to leash him and take him out on the front porch to watch it pass. Ears up, tail wagging, so cute. Thirty seconds was enough to convince him that "his" house was safe and then he wanted back in.
Then there are Jack O'lanterns. Teeks could care less. However, because Jack O'lanterns are unfamiliar objects that sit on the kitchen counter and usually aren't there, they are an object of fear to poor Kirby. He wanted nothing to do with the kitchen today.
But the worst of all is the trick or treaters. The doorbell rings and strangers come to the door and GK has no choice but to drop into a tight turtle on the sofa for the duration. With extra trembling. YB is pretty sure he smells food in that bowl and he wants some and he doesn't see why we are giving it away when there is a starving beagle in the house. He also wants to see everyone who comes to the door, because they all have food too. So there is lunging and some occasional barking and a lot of crazed tail wagging and some "Oh beagles! So cuuuuuute." We have him on the leash so he can't escape when we open the door. Little buddy's all worn out now. He has missed his evening nap with all the excitement.
I may have finally bought the perfect amount of candy. It's almost 8:30 and we have about 6 pieces left. Not enough for Bunny to risk snacking on it, but probably just enough to run out (almost) with the trick or treaters, without gobs of extra sugar for me to worry about tomorrow.
2 comments:
Why don't you dress YB and GK in a cute costume that you could knit? How about the tubby one as the sta-puff marshmallow dog ang and the scardy one as Don Knotts?
Har Har. I was sick, I was tired, and I was FIVE! Don Knotts was very scary.
Post a Comment