Yes, Indeed, Weather Is A Factor

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214 – October, 2023

By Chris Robinson

A few years ago, I realized that my arthritic knees had become more accurate at forecasting changes in the weather than the National Weather Service. Not that it came as a great surprise to me as, like most investigative reporters, I view anything emanating from a government agency as suspect. However, what I didn’t realize was that dogs–mine and those belonging to others–were even better at detecting weather changes in the offing than my knees.

Sitting at ringside some years ago, I watched a Chinese Crested belonging to a lady I had recently interviewed having an absolutely miserable run in agility. Now, this dog was a really good and enthusiastic agility dog with several titles to his credit but his go that day was a study in indifference. Where he was ordinarily a speed demon on an agility course, on this day, he’d have been hard pressed to have beaten the time of a friend of mine’s Pekingese who, his owner contends, holds the all-time, slow-time record for an AKC agility run. In fact, the entire performance by the Chinese Crested that day could have been summed up in a single word, “Meh.”

When the Chinese Crested and his owner exited the ring at the completion of this highly forgettable trip, they plopped down alongside me and the dog’s owner said, “Did you ever see such a miserable performance?” Well, yes, I’d seen worse but her dog’s effort had definitely been something less than sterling. However, her next comment gave me a bit of a start as she said, “When will I learn not to expect anything from him when the barometer is dropping.” Huh? “Yeah,” she said, “Happens every time. When the barometer drops and there’s a low pressure system coming in, Mo gets totally distracted and worried. He’s terrified of thunderstorms and, as you know, low pressure usually means we’re in for some stormy weather. If he thinks there’s a storm coming or actually–I guess–senses it, his work goes from ‘Wow! I’m so proud of you’ to ‘I have no idea whose dog this is.’ It’s really frustrating, especially when I forget to check the barometer.”

Click here to read the complete article
214 – October, 2023

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Posted by AnthonyA on Oct 21 2023. Filed under Current Articles, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.