Things that scare Giles

My Grey is a doll baby, I swear. He's so sweet, gentle, easy-going, and laid back. And he's a big chicken. (I must say I feel sorta mean just writing it down...I'm sorry, Giles! And he's not a chicken, he's a dog; hence the name of the blog. Otherwise it would be "A girl and her chicken". )

He's scared of 2 things, that I know of anyway. First, he afraid of the dark. I wrote about that here.

The other thing he's scared of, apparently, is my mobile phone. Yes, he scared of my cell phone. He likes music and the sound of TV. I even leave the TV on when I'm gone so it seems like he has company (and to help drown out neighborhood noises that might agitate him into barking). He's frightened of my phone. He seems to do okay when it rings; he just looks at me. But when my phone vibrates and he hears it, he stands up and walks around and whimpers. And if I get a text...! Well, he hates it. The alert sound I have for texts is the sound of Samantha's nose wiggle on the old television show BEWITCHED. When my text alert goes off, he whines and cries and walks around; he jumps and whimpers. He won't settle down. And this goes on for more than a minute or two. He gets "upset" for 10-15 minutes. I even changed the tone but it still scares him. I finally had to turn my phone on silent.

I love him to pieces, fears an all!

A girl and her grey

Giles the house guest

I'm looking for a new job and The Man lives in one city and I work in another so I commute. I work Mon- Thurs so I live at my dad's house during that time, then I go to The Man's house Thurs-Sun. Giles has been staying with The Man- until yesterday.

Dad wasn't sure he wanted a dog in his house and I don't blame him. He had new carpets and furniture so I completely understand and respect that wish. I knew that when I decided to adopt Giles. The plan was Giles would stay at The Man's until I could get a job and move there.

Well, Dad took pity on me and said Giles could come visit for 4 days, shorter if he was a knucklehead of a dog, meaning The Man and I would drive halfway and do a dog switch if Giles was an ill-behaved guest. (Also, just to be clear, if Giles was miserable at Dad's house then we would also do the switch). So far so good!

As a matter of fact, I thought he was a big adorable baby before, but now he's just a bigger and even more of an adorable (and spoiled!) baby! Dad has all carpets so he LOVES to be able to walk all over and sniff and investigate. He also sleeps off his pillow; The Man only had hardwood flooring so it can be cold. Giles loves the carpet and snuggles down anywhere. He also loves dad's fenced in backyard, being able to run and prance around freely. Now, I take him out on a leash and look for cats (Giles is not a friend to the feline world) and when I make sure no stray neighborhood cat is sleeping one off in the yard, I let him off his lead and he loves to play.

So far the "no furniture" rule has held. He hasn't even tried to get on chairs or the couch at dad's, which is a good thing since he is not allowed.

Last night we did have to make some bedtime adjustments. First, I have closet doors in my bedroom that are floor to ceiling mirrors. Giles spent the first 20 minutes growling at his own reflection. I don't know if he figured out it was him or not. I finally got him to touch his paw to the mirror and he stopped.  Also, when I turned out all the lights, he whined. He was in bed with me but still whimpered. I talked to him and pet him. I wasn't sure what was wrong because that was unusual. I turned on the light to see if I was laying on his tail or something and as soon as the light came on he stopped whining. Light off, whine. Light on, stop. I finally dug a night-light out of a drawer and plugged it in and then turned off all the other lights. He was fine. Apparently Giles is afraid of the dark (The Man's apartment his a security light which happens to shine in his living room window at night, never making is completely dark, and the same thing, ironically, happens with a security light through the bedroom window!)!

Finally, The Man's apartment is very warm all the time (to the point where we keep all the windows cracked. The heat is controlled on a master switch for all the apts. in the entire building complex because it's such an old place so we can't control how hot or cold the place gets) and dad's house is not. Dad keeps the thermostat around 68 during the day and 60 at night. Giles started out sleeping in my bed last night (like he usually does, even when at The Man's) but I must have tried to pet him in the night because he growled and got out of bed (Big Greyhound "no-no" is petting them while asleep. They feel threatened; I know better but my subconscious didn't agree). He laid on his pillow on the floor but he must have been cold. I woke to find him wrapped in his blanket plus an afghan that was on the spare bed. He must have claimed it in the night! One thing he does love to do is make a "nest" of blankets when he can so he did, and then slept the night away!

Otherwise, I think he's adapting very nicely to his mini vacation at dad's place. If he continues to be such a wonderful house guest, he might be invited back (especially if I could teach him to vacuum since I really should do that daily!!) 

A Girl and her Grey