Lucy’s Mental Health

Our golden retriever loves lake life. She is never happier than she is on Quantabacook. However, the fact that Miss Lucy is happy here does not mean that she is…well. You see, our girl has, for lack of a better word…issues. What follows are but three examples of the sort of thing that we have been dealing with for the eleven incredible years of her charmed life.

A few nights ago in the middle of the night the smoke detector in our bedroom began to emit three squeaking beeps at an extremely high volume. The long story is that it was either a battery issue or a malfunction. All was well. But Lucy was having none of it. She immediately ran from our bedroom, taking up refuge in a tight ball on the rug in front of the shower stall in the bathroom. She was still there when I woke up at 6:30.

On another night (why do all these things happen at night?) Lucy was sacked out, dead to the world, sound asleep on the rug in front of the fireplace. Suddenly, off in the distance, someone, somewhere set off a firework. I use the singular here because it was literally only one muffled boom. Lucy’s head immediately lifted off the rug, ears back, and although she was still clearly half asleep, she staggered blindly into the bathroom to take refuge on the same small rug in front of the shower.

Back at home, when I feed her breakfast she insists on me sitting down before she can eat. I don’t have to even be in the same room, but I must be seated or there will not be any breakfast eating happening in the Dunnevant house. Don’t ask me to explain this phenomenon. It is what it is. Well, here in Maine, Lucy has added a new twist to this particular neurosis…she now refuses to eat until both of us are seated! So for example if it’s just me and Pam is still asleep in our bedroom…nothing. We must apparently both bear seated witness to her breakfast eating ritual.

So, there you have it. Life with an adorable, beautiful, hilarious golden retriever is nowhere near as easy as we make it look.