The slippery slope into Insanity...

This is our dog Anastasia... We just call her Anna! I used to think that Anna was on a slow boat to 'Loony Town' but now I'm under the impression she's headed there via bullet train. Allow me to explain:

Anna is a pound puppy... We picked her up at the SPCA when she was roughly 10 months old. She'd been classified 'A Runner'... I imagined she'd bolted on her previous owners one time too many and that's how she ended up 'doing time'. Anna has been a member of our family for about 6 yrs. now and we love her dearly. She's had some 'quirky' habits from the beginning... For one, she's afraid of the dark so we must always be certain to leave a light on for her. Otherwise we'll find her panting, shaking and drooling... Sometimes her own tail can 'freak her out' and she'll race in circles trying to get it to lay quietly and just leave her alone... Her very worst fear however, is loud noises... Specifically ANYTHING that is or could be mistaken for a Thunder Storm. When this particular form of terror hits there's not much we can do for Anna but close her up in a windowless room until the storm or noise has passed and she senses that it's gone forever... At that point we need to be ready with a mop to sop up the pool of drool she's created. I feel so sorry for her when she gets like this. It used to be that I would sit and pet her and try to calm her with soothing words but that method just seemed to feed her neurosis.

In the past year I think Anna's fears have intensified. For some reason she's adopted a fear of my Mother-In-Laws backyard. She used to love to run around the fenced enclosure with such glee (our yard is not fenced so if she's outside at home she's always on a leash... Remember, she's a runner.) but now she needs to be bribed to go outside and will only do so if one of us goes out with her. If the weather is particularly hot, cold, windy or wet we'll duck back into the house and she'll immedately run to the door shaking and panting, having been left alone with the imaginary ghosts that haunt her.

During our stay at my Mother-In-Laws this weekend there had been a thunderstorm in the area while we were out at dinner. We came back to the house and let Anna up from the basement only to have her run into the room tracking solid black pawprints all over the carpet. My husband immediately grabbed her before the entire room was marked with black polka dots... That's when we found that her entire left side was several shades of grey and verigated black. It seems that Anna had gotten so freaked out by the storm that she tried to fit her body into the smallest space possible and that was behind the furnace in Mom's basement. Even after an outdoor bath the next day Anna remains grey as a wolf... Only on her left side of course. I think it was a mixture of the soot and the drool that combined to make a rather impervious hair dye.

Today during our 2 hr. drive back from Virginia Anna stood on the bench seat in the back of the van vibrating and drooling. On our trip down a few days ago she rested comfortably during the trip. I worry that her paranoia is getting worse. I used to give her anxiety pills prescribed by the vet for things like thunderstorms and car trips, but the things she feared would pass before Anna would allow the pills to take effect. Her anxiety seems to over-ride her body's ability to accept medication. I fear one day she's going to shake herself into heart failure. I wish I knew a 'Dog Whisperer' that could talk, uh... I mean Whisper some sense into the head of this poor beast... Because my sentiments of "It's okay Anna."... "Just lay down Anna." and the old standby of "Oh for God sakes would you just knock it off!"... don't seem to be helping.
Anna BEFORE she turned half grey.