Izzy had a wee bit of a meltdown today...

I had a viewing to go to (my great-great-grandfather passed away, he was well into his 90's and it was the most celebratory viewing I've ever been to), so I didn't get a chance to walk the dogs until later in the evening. I also forgot to feed them this morning and didn't have anything thawed for this afternoon so they just ate a little bit ago. Oops. Anywho, so it was probably around 8pm until we got started with our walk. Izzy first, as usual, and since it was late I decided we'd take a new, long route as one of my most favorite things to do is walk in the dark. I know, not safe, but I have a ferocious corgi with me, people will be intimidated, I assure you.

Anyway, we ended up walking by the elementary school where every classroom made a scarecrow and they all set out on the little hill by the school. It looks really freaking creepy at night because it's just a large group of human shaped figures, they always scare me for a second before I remember what they are!

Well, this is the first time Izzy as seen them, and as soon as they came into view she started growling, the low in her throat "I'm scared shitless but I'm gonna act tough" growl. Previously I've only ever heard her do this to other dogs or new scary objects. I wasn't expecting it for these new, human shaped things. But she did. So in all my infinite wisdom I decide that she's only doing it because she can't see/smell them well and if I pick her up and take her over to smell them she'll be fine. Uh...duh? You idiot! So I carry her over, she sniffs them, I put her down and she cowers and starts licking her lips (a clear sign that she's really stressed out and I'm a complete idiot). Izzy is not a dog that cowers, I've never seen her cower from anything before.

I knew at that point that I'd crossed the line and really just needed to get out of there without making it worse than it already was. So we walked back towards the sidewalk, I had to carry her because walking through the rows of scarey scarecrows was just not an option for her. She reached out and sniffed one as we passed, and after we were about 200 yards away she was fine again, but I'm still kicking myself.

Hopefully they'll still be up tomorrow so I can take her down in the daylight and do some work with the clicker around them. It's not like scarecrows are something she's going to have to deal with every day, and I know for a fact she's walked past all kinds of scarecrow decorations this year on people's porches for Halloween, but I don't want to just forget about it. We'll see how it goes tomorrow if they are still up...

I guess this is going to be my Halloween post for the year?