Brown hasn't always been shit scared of thunder and fireworks. I enjoyed many years with him as a puppy before he became scared of them. Many happy years when I could be out doing things while a storm was happening. Things like working or shopping or scuba diving or having dinner with friends or getting a haircut or, well anything at all really. Except not riding my motorbike. Because I didn't ride a motorbike when Brown was a puppy, and even if I did I wouldn't ride my motorbike in the middle of a thunder storm.
I remember when Brown became scared of thunder and fireworks. It was New Years Eve of 2004. I was invited down to Sydney for the celebrations. I was quite excited. I like being quite excited, except when it doesn't turn out so great.
The history of why it was not so great:
I'd made a new friend that previous Easter on a scuba diving trip. We met on a live aboard dive boat for a four day excellent adventure out to the Yongala Shipwreck, off Townsville in north Queensland. It was meant to be an excellent adventure of mass proportions. Lots of diving along the way to the wreck and then diving on the wreck. It was going to be great.
Except it wasn't......
Arriving in Townsville the wind was blowing 30 knots. Not good. After hours of waiting I finally boarded the boat. Turns out it wasn't a very good boat. The sleeping quarters were cramped, there was a bout of bed bugs on board, the only water supply was 2 levels above on the top deck, the staff were just backpackers who didn't really care about the divers, the only real vegetarian food they had was a tin of beans to share between 3 of us.
And then there was the crappy diving. Really really crappy diving. You see once we set out everyone was quite excited. However within a few hours we all had this look in our eyes. A look that said something like "ok, this is fun so far meeting new people but the wind is howling the boat is rocking and I don't think there is any way in hell we are going to make it out to the wreck". We all knew it, but no one said it.
When it came time to go to bed that first night the boat was rocking so hard I wished I'd had straps to tie me to my bed. I was so scared of falling out that I didn't sleep at all that night. I kept one eye open just incase we capsized and had to make a quick escape. Thankfully we didn't capsize.
The call came out the next morning...."Diving 10 minutes". Holy crap really? Really. Everyone scrambled out of bed up to the deck with one eye still shut trying to sleep. We had exactly 10 minutes to get our gear together and on and get into the water. A tough task for anyone. Being a trained instructor I made it, others didn't. But it wasn't worth it after all, it was crap. Really really crap. We were at some dead reef full of nothing. While I was diving all I could think about was breakfast. What a great wonderful breakfast of mass proportions it would be.
It wasn't......
It was a tin of baked beans between 3 of us on toast. Not so much substance for a three dive a day trip.
We never made it out to the glorious Yongala wreck. The wind and waves were so bad we never came close. Instead everyone on board was constantly seasick, even me who had never been before. I guess it didn't really matter that there was crap food on board, everyone barfed it up anyway. I remember thinking on the last night of the trip that I must have done something really really bad, because surely I was living in Hell. The only good thing about the trip was that I made a new friend. A friend that I would go to Tahiti with later that year (that's another story in itself). A friend who would invite me to Sydney for New Years Eve.
The lead up to New Years Eve:
It was a rather spontaneous decision to go to Sydney for NYE. I was excited, except I had one problem. What do I do with Brown and Orange? I found a kennel for Orange straight away, but trying to find a place for Brown was much more difficult..... all the big dog kennels were booked out months in advance. After calling exactly 16 kennels in the Brisbane area I finally found one. Phew! I was glad.
Except I shouldn't have been.....
I booked Brown into a police kennel. A kennel where they train police dogs. A kennel where they shoot guns that make loud noises. Loud noises like gun shots and thunder and fireworks. Unfortunately I didn't know this at the time.
Upon bringing Brown home after the NYE extravaganza he was a bit different. He was still Brown, but a different kind of Brown. He was suddenly scared of loud noises. I didn't like that. I wanted my old Brown back. But that old Brown was gone, forever.
Brown had suddenly become a Houdini Brown. Anytime there was thunder or fireworks he would escape the yard if I wasn't home. I could no longer go away if it was going to storm. If I was at work I would get a phone call from my neighbour or my friends around the corner or the vet across the road or some random kind stranger who had found him roaming the streets. This was highly frustrating.
A couple of times Brown injured himself escaping the yard. He had to get stitches. This made me sad, and cost lots of money. So I came up with a plan. A very clever plan.
It was clever for a while. Approximately 4 days, before the next storm arrived. This was the plan......
Go to the hardware store and buy lots and lots and lots of mesh fencing and star pickets. I spent many hours on many occasions putting up more and more mesh fencing. And lots and lots of money. Each time it stormed or there were fireworks though Brown would find a new way out.
Every summer for the past 6 years I spent countless hours fixing fences. One day back in March last year I thought I had finally won. There was a thunderstorm of mass proportions. The building I worked in got struck by lightening and set off the fire alarms. That storm lasted almost an hour. But there was no phone call about Brown escaping. I thought I had finally won!
Except I didn't.......
He'd gone to my friends around the corner where someone was thankfully home. He stayed there for the whole day in their pool yard. They didn't call me because they knew I would worry. I picked him up on the way home from work. I wasn't very happy with Brown. But I had a new idea. A very clever idea. An idea that would hopefully finally work.
The clever idea was this.........
Keep Brown in my pool yard in summer when I'm not going to be at home. The fences are much higher and more secure. I went and bought a new mat and new toys for Brown. He would love staying in the pool yard. He has a pool to swim in whenever he wants. And new toys and even Orange to play with. Why didn't I think of this before?
Because Brown didn't like being in the pool yard. He could no longer sit on the front deck and watch the world go by, and bark at people and other dogs. A few days later my friends around the corner came over. They were seriously worried about me. They thought something bad had happened. They thought I might be dead. You see Brown spent those days in the pool yard crying and howling to mass proportions. I was not happy.
So I went and bought a cheap radio. And made arrangements so Brown could actually go inside the rumpus room and garage. So if it stormed he could lie on his beanbag and listen to the soothing sounds of the radio.
I am delighted to say that after a few months of this, Brown is finally content with his new surroundings. He may not be entirely happy. He has moved a few bricks out of place in an attempt to dig out. But that won't happen because there are drains and pipes in the way.
Now when I leave the house for any length of time Brown goes into the pool yard. He has Orange to keep him company. Although I'm pretty sure they have their secret special meetings... to conspire against me whenever possible.
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