December 15, 2003
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Squirrely Animals
Koji woke me this morning, around six-something, sitting beside the bed whining. This is not ordinary behavior for this dog. When he wants to go out, he goes to the door and whacks it with a paw. He also does that when he wants a chewy treat. He trained us to get up and pay attention to him by whacking the door with his paw. When we don’t respond to that, and he really wants out, or REALLY wants a chewy treat, he stands with front paws about head-high (my head) on the door, looking over his shoulder waiting for a response.
After a moment of listening to him whine, I opened my eyes and there he was beside the bed, looking at me anxiously. It wasn’t pain. I’ve seen him hurting and this wasn’t that look. I’m not sure what it was. I spoke to him softly, like the stupid primate I am, asking what the trouble was. He whined again. Then Greyfox started to sit up. I asked if he was getting up (more stupid monkey questions) and he said he might as well, he’d been lying there for about 40 minutes, awake, thinking about the work he needed to do to get ready to go do his stand in Wasilla. It was warm enough yesterday for it, and he’s going back again today.
Anyhow, as soon as Greyfox was up, Koji stopped whining and jumped up and curled up beside me on the bed. Maybe he had been responding to Greyfox’s psychic emanations as he lay there thinking about work and probably wishing for sleep at the same time. I’d tend to dismiss Koji’s whining thusly if it were not for Muffin and Penny.
Both of those cats, the two that the man who left them here with us five years ago called the “kittens” as opposed to the third one, their mother, Grammy Mousebreath, are acting squirrely, and Koji seems restless even now after Greyfox has left for town. I can’t help being reminded of the guy who learned to predict earthquakes by watching the “lost dog” classified ads in papers. He found that from a few hours to days before big earthquakes, animals in the quake areas start acting nutty. So many dogs jump fences and escape their yards at such times that he found spikes in the want ads to be a reliable predictor.
I wonder, dunno….
Comments (8)
Well . . . Timber keeps howling. I can’t get him to shut up ( I have a witness, just got off the phone with krisinluck )
My bird (the big one ) keeps screaming incessently, and …
Oh wait. Nothing new about that.
But I’ve been feeling something give me skin prickles all day and night. Maybe I should turn up the heat?
Interesting. I’m convinced that this ability to read signs in humans has generally fallen by the wayside owing to our various accomplishments and self-created complications.
I’d never heard about the lost dog ads guy before; it makes perfect sense that this form of prediction should work…
Hope this doesn’t mean an ice storm for you!!
Something in the air? Weather brewing?
My animals have been acting “squirrely” today too and then suddenly there was a bunch of ruckus in our storage space. Our cat Stripes and Wolf Ozzy had cornered the Mink. This is the second time that Mink has gotten in. Luckily it is back outside safe and sound.
Something’s up! We might not know, but they certainly do. But how many people today pay attention to the animals? Maybe we should. (speaking in generalities for “most” people)
Whenever my hamster wants attention (or a chewy ANYTHING) she wedges herself between the water bottle and the wall of her little hamster house and starts gnawing on the roof (usually she just wants to be petted
). We had an earthquake here -of all places!- on the 9th, and she slept right through it. No early warnings for me! 
Maybe Koji just wanted a warm spot to curl up?
i’ve read about animals sensing things being not right in the world of nature. they’re pretty cool, those furry beasties.
and i do love the fact that i’m not the only one who looks at a whining dog and says, “what’s wrong?” (I always want to add “lassie” to the end of the sentence.)