McFly

I think Rio is developing agoraphobia. I'm not being facetious, I'm actually worried about her. This is a dog who previously loved to be outside and scratched on the sliding glass door furiously and annoyingly all day long to be let out. Now you can barely force her outside to go to the bathroom.

It all started a few months ago when she got into some red ants. Obviously this could not have been fun. Since then she has gone back and forth with varying degrees of panic about being outside. She still likes to be outside if there are people with her (though one person sometimes is not enough), but never asks to go outside herself and often chooses to use her kitty litter rather than do her business out back.

This weekend her panic has even moved inside. At first I couldn't figure out what her problem was, but since she was sitting next to me and shaking like a leaf, I knew something was bothering her. I wondered if there was a distant storm that I couldn't yet hear (she has always hated thunder and lightning), but the rains never came. Finally, I figured it out...

There was a fly in the house - a leftover party guest from Saturday! She's too petrified to be in the living room or to sleep in her pillow by the front door (I mean this is where she lives all day when we're gone). Instead, she's taken to sleeping in our bedroom all day. Normally, she hates it in there. She barely sleeps there at night when we're home and never goes in there when we're not. It's breaking my heart!

We've killed the fly. We even showed her it was dead, but she's still sulking in the bedroom. I think there is one fly still around somewhere. Hopefully, we can get that bastard too.

In the meantime, especially if the Dog Whisperer is reading, any other suggestions??