Monday, August 16, 2010

It seems Joey ISN'T completely fearless after all

Went by LSU to pick up Joey from therapy this afternoon and - given his "accident" in the truck last week - we walked down to the end of the building to a small patch of grass so he could relieve himself before getting into the truck.  We've done that now for the last 3 or 4 sessions and Joey was out ahead of me pulling me along toward the grass as usual when he suddenly froze.  The hair on his entire back stood straight up and his nose was in the air sniffing like crazy.  Hey - it scared me!  Joey NEVER looks scared of anything.  I started looking around madly myself but couldn't see a thing.  So I hauled him on down to the grassy area and he finally settled down enough to go the bathroom.  When we started back toward the truck I suddenly saw exactly what he had smelled that terrified him so much . . . 

For those of you NOT from Louisiana, "Mike VI" is LSU's tiger mascot.  That's the trailer in which he's transported when necessary from his home cage outside LSU Stadium.  He must have been there at the vet school today for some reason. 

Anyway, when we got back downwind of Mike's trailer cage, Joey immediately started to cringe and look all around him again.  Then he headed for the truck.  When we were almost back to the truck, a cleaning person came out one of the doors near us and Joey went into full attack mode -- it was like, "Okay, I KNOW I can take this guy - he's just a human - so let me feel better about myself by threatening him." 

I put him in the truck and we headed for home.  But unlike every other day, he did NOT eventually lay down and go to sleep.  He stayed completely, totally, absolutely alert the whole way home.  ;-D




Wonder if he'll still be on the lookout for tigers when he goes back to therapy on Wednesday.

1 comment:

David said...

How amazingly interesting. Great story. Geaux Tigers!
I think I've settled on an Australian Shepherd puppy for this coming spring. I hope I can find a good litter to pick from. I have a friend that is interested in a puppy also. I'd like a female blue Merle.