Dear Dog

The thunder will not hurt you. (The lightening actually could but I won't let you in on that and the possibility is remote anyway.) You start getting all jittery when there is even alittle rumble in the distance 5 minutes before I can even hear it! Dog, you've got to stop! Window screens are expensive. You have ruined so many window screens that we don't even bother to replace them anymore. We just live with no screens at all on front porch windows. I don't really mind that most of the time...it makes for a quick way to let Cat out. But on those beautiful Spring and Autumn days when there is a nice cool breeze and the hint of the season to come in the air...OH! How I want to open those windows and let the outdoors blow through the house at last in the Spring, or one last time in Autumn.

It doesn't help get you in anyway, Dog, to scratch away at the window and knock all of my flower pots upside down to the deck below. You are a smart dog in other regards...why can't you figure out that windows can't be crawled through and that we cannot let you in if we are not at home.

Come on, Dog, you know when we are at home. You hear our cars coming a mile away and begin the run up the driveay, tail wagging before the rest of us even know there is a car coming at all. See! You are a smart dog! (how do you do that anyway? Know our vehicle from the other many cars that come up that hill?)

Dog, you are old enough to have lived through so many thunderstorms that you must know that you always survive them. You live on 10 acres! There are plenty of lovely hiding spots to get you out of the rain and thunder. Go to the shed, go to the Play House, go to the little barn, go to the dog pen and curl up on a nice bale of hay and enjoy!

Dog! Thunder won't hurt you!