Wake Up, Momma!

This July and August, the dog has taken to waking me up on some days. She doesn't come up onto the bed. She comes right up to my side of the bed and does this staring thing till I open my eyes. And you will wake up if someone's staring at you long enough. She waits till I actually sit up and get down onto the floor. Once she sees 'feet on floor', she starts her zoomies around me. She boops my legs by way of a morning greeting. 

She occasionally pants very hard too. But the panting mostly happens when she's anxious or frightened by the sudden onset of thunder and lightning + storm in nights. She pants when she's excited too, but I don't see what's so exciting about watching me sleep and waiting for me to wake. It's damn creepy sometimes. 

Initially, I jumped straight out of bed, thinking that  she might need to poop or pee urgently. After a few weeks, I realized that these 'wake Momma up' antics aren't followed by pacing or circling at the front door. She's not actually needing to toilet. I realized she does this most on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. WHUT. Does she actually understand the passing of days? 

I suspect that Choya remembers the routine of what comes after which. Her school day is fixed, the day the weekly helper comes in is fixed, we also fix a day to have dinner with the man's parents in which she stays the whole day with them. She comes out with us on some nights, sees her Godma occasionally and she plays with fweends on weekends. We were on this routine pre-lockdown, before April 7. We returned to this routine on June 20. It's not a difficult schedule to grasp once we settle back into it. 

During the lockdown Circuit Breaker and Phase 1, this schedule is shelved. The dog wasn't too perturbed because her needs are still met and we were at home more. We started running with her more, and she built some serious muscles. I'm glad she has been thoroughly socialized before the country went into lockdown. I'm sure she wondered why we didn't visit people or go to restaurants, but I didn't notice marked behavioral changes during lockdown.

I'm attributing these new behaviors to her general anxiety and neurosis since there's something new that makes her anxious every few months. We'll just have to manage it as it arises. Who knows. She might be anxious when we don't stir for eight hours in the nights, thinking that we're dead or something. Hahahahahahah. She isn't permitted on our bed, and she doesn't attempt to come up either. So she's extra joyful when we wake up.