Finn & Charley Too

I’ve been working for the same non-profit for about six years now, and it is literally housed in a house that was built in the early 1900s.  When I first began working in the house, I always felt that the building was creepy, and I had some experiences with creaks and noises and seeing lights, but I brushed them aside.  Then I had an experience where I saw, right before my eyes, a set of doors close, swing shut, and click together with no apparent reason.  No wind, no other person, no nothing.  I told a co-worker, who had replied that she had always gotten an odd feeling at that end of the house too.

Well, fast forward to this summer.  Fast forward through more flashes of light out of the corner of my eyes, more things moving or swinging in front of me, more creepy feelings.  Fast forward through rooms and hallways getting painted, a new roof going up, new construction projects going on through the building.  Fast forward through six years of visitors to the building and fast forward to me having to put up an exhibit in that end of the house this summer.

In the mornings, sometimes I will walk Finn through the building with me, and since I have been working on this exhibit, I have been going down that hallway and walking through those doors, which once closed in front of me, more and more often.  Four times out of five, when I bring Finn down that way, she will stop dead in her tracks – all four paws digging into the floor, all of her body pulling back away from me.  Some coaxing, some “it’s all right” and “good girl,” some pulling and pushing on my part, and we are slowly back on our way.  But the minute I am ready to leave that end, she is right behind me to get out of there.

Makes me wonder – I’ve read that dogs can see things we can’t.  What do you think?

Sometimes I think that since I am able to bring Finn to work with me, and since she is with me then most days, all day, that she doesn’t understand that there are times when she can’t be with me.  We had been having some problems with leaving her alone in the house.  This could range from us being outside watering the plants for 20 minutes to us leaving her alone while we run errands for a couple of hours.  That’s why I was super anxious when I left her for my mom’s birthday tea, if you remember.  Really, the only thing she attacks, and I knock on wood as I type, is my rug.

It started in one corner, and she progressed to the others.  We have other rugs that she ignores, but for some reason, when we left her, this became her new dental floss.  As you can see, she’s attacked three of the four corners.  Oh, Finn!!

So, I started to use this trick I read where you leave a toy the minute you walk out the door and then pick it up the minute you walk in the door.  The dog is supposed to somehow equate the toy to you coming home.  Well, I didn’t want to believe it at first, but it’s been working for a while now, so I thought I would share the toy which I think in my head is my replacement.

That’s right.  A $7 orange squeaky with black spiderweb over it.  That’s what she equates with me coming home.  Can you believe it?  I seriously can’t!  It’s odd too, I don’t think she even plays with it while I am gone because I find it in the same place from where I put it when I left.  I also think it’s a little strange that Finn generally gives me a harder time than my husband.  If I am already out, and he leaves her, she’s an angel.  Whereas I had to use this trick to get her to be good.  Any thoughts or suggestions on this?  I’ve been using it with some success for a couple of weeks now, but I am curious as to what other peeps are doing for the same challenge.  Thank you for any suggestions or advice!