Stang

I'm watching a documentary on human-dog relations. Dogs and people have a bond no other two species have. They pick up on your state very well. A little over a year ago my lab started getting out of the yard. She had to be climbing the chain link. She actually got out, went through the neighbors dog door and made herself home on their couch. I was drinking heavily at the time. I hadn't had a problem with her before. I had a electronic fence put in with my chain link to keep her in. She did the same thing about 6 weeks ago at my new home. Again I was drunk at the time. There has to be some relationship between the drinking and her escapes. I've been sober for 8 days and have had no issues with her. Strange how that works. i suppose it's another reason to tell my AV to **** off.

greens

I know a man who swears he's sOber because of his horse. It wouldn't go near him when he was drinking, and he had his "moment of clarity " when the horse was being too stubborn to go back in. I think we can have a connection with any animal we spend enough time with.

SunnyMe

I am sober today in large part thanks to a very sick little orange kitten who got dropped into my life unasked-for. It was up to me to nurse him back to life, so I had to stay sober to get it done. We saved each other. We were best friends for 17 years.

jessie65

That is a strange thing, they do notice something 'different' about us and apparently it makes them uncomfortable. My dog was always standoffish when I was drinking, she wouldn't even sit next to me. (and I only fell on my dog once)
kidding close a couple times though..

Girlie928

Oh gawd. I used to take my dog to the bar. All the drunks at the bar would lift their heads half way and greet her "Hi Rosie", "Hi Rosie" and down the line. I am not proud of that.

Soberintexas007

Hi Stang,
OMG - I read your story and it gave me a good, healthy laugh. That would be incredibly funny if your dog was truly escaping your house because he/she did not want to be around you because you were drunk. But I guess now you have an extra incentive to stay sober, right?

Nerina

I think animals do notice how we change if we drink. I have a friend who has a dog. He doesn't drink or party a lot, but whenever he is going to a party or something he has to get a dog sitter, just as you would have a baby sitter if you had plans to go out I really admire that The dog is his baby

Della1968

Great thread. My dog is very sensitive to my state of mind. He wouldn't come near me when I was drinking but wouldn't leave the room I was in either. He is too overprotective. Yesterday I cried over something. I rarely cry. He was a wreck all day. Animals don't get the credit they deserve. They are more perceptive than most people.

Pipefish

Beautiful :-)

Thank-you

RaiseAnchor

This is another great reason to abstain: pets. My partner and I recently have adopted a rabbit. We've been able to take her to the vet for a physical, have her spayed, and give her a nice, relaxing home to live in and enjoy. This is my first pet since I had moved out of my parents house five years ago.

Although I have been sober for quite some time, I don't think I would have been able to pay such attention to an animal when I was drinking. Let alone be financially stable enough to properly care for it. That's a sad thought.

Berrybean

Animals can really bring hope to us (just thinking of the true story of 'A Street Cat Named Bob' by James Bowen).

Dogs are loyal - you must have spooked her if she ran away like that. A man I know at AA said he knew it was time to change when his dogs fled the house (long after his wife; kids; job; and money had gone).

Good luck staying sober

Turtle82

A dog's sense of smell is something like a hundred times greater than ours. Animals are born knowing what to stay away from by its appearance (as in colors of plants) or smell. I had to learn when I moved to a rural area what plants the rabbits would eat and what they would steer clear of. So far, they won't touch any purple flower so I have lots of those in different varities but I can't plant my favorite... primroses... because a whole patch of them will be mowed down overnight by little rabbit teeth. So dogs and cats hate the smell of alcohol... might mean they consider it poison! Run!!!

Stubbs16

My dog always starts whining when I'm drinking. She hates it! Dog is smarter then her owner. She also relates this to no walking time too. She adores her daily walks. Another good reason to stay sober.

SoberCAH

My chihuahua urinated in my drink glass, which I reflexively drank when I woke up in the middle of the night (from being passed out with all my clothes on in the living room - a class act for sure).

It sure didn't taste like the brandy I had been drinking prior to passing out.

Mercifully, I matriculated into the treatment center and thereafter AA shortly after Bernard did his best to point me in that direction.

Turtle82

^ So funny! My Chi will do either business ... saves it up actually... (you're lucky it wasn't #2) and "cover up" anything she doesn't like the smell of or that threatens her territory. For a while she would pee on the bed (thank goodness for mattress covers) because the cat laid on it but she's stopped that... again, thank goodness!

FBL

My cat always used to curl up on my pillow beside me, unless I had been drinking, then he wouldn't come near me.

NotYouAgain

Dogs cannot chose their owners, but they can chose their masters.

I used to breed, train, and sell dogs. On a rare occasion, one of the dogs would be returned and rescued from an abusive person. On each occasion by a drunk.
Over many years I have also rescued a few mutts who were neglected, starving, frightened, and ill.

In recovery, I became more loving and understanding. I stopped breeding dogs because It got too sad to sell them off. So then I ended up with only rescued dogs. Through loving care and basic obedience training, they have become the most happy, fun, yet obedient dogs ever.

How we treat a dog reflects on how we treat ourselves.
In recovery, we learn to treat ourselves better, and the our pets get treated better too.
It works the other way also. If we keep our pets fit and healthy, it can also keeps us fit and healthy too (I had two working dogs, and they need lots of daily exercise).

thomas11

My wife and I have no kids, so our pets are our kids. We are on our second golden retriever since we got married. Our first one was very emotional (a happy emotional not aggressive or sad) When he was a puppy I would get drunk and sings songs with him as a puppy so he started "singing" along with me while playing music. I was really pretty funny. I eventually had to put a stop to it as be started singing a bit too much. As my drinking progressed, it was no longer fun for him and when I pulled out the bottle he would look at me with such a disgusted look. I can't even explain it and you'd have to see it yourself to actually believe me but it was incredible. His look would make me feel like an inch tall.
Our second one (now 3 yrs old) has a completely different personality, he is so gentle and a baby. But I am also a different person now. While not perfect, I am 90% better than I used to be. I took a different approach to raising him. Even in training I never even raised my voice at him. What is interesting is that I was seriously injured recently and I sleep in a different bedroom because of my leg braces. That little bugger "tucks me in" every single night. Something he has never done and I did not teach him, but he senses something is wrong. He's not allowed on the bed my wife and sleep in but he is allowed on the bed I'm currently sleeping in. He lays next to me on the bed until he hears me snoring, then quietly sneaks off the bed and goes into the other room and sleeps the remainder of the night where he normally sleeps. He has done this every night since about the 3rd day I got home from the hospital. Its amazing.

SoberCAH

My wife and I are a little over the top when it comes to our dog, cats and donkeys.

To say our pets are spoiled and doted upon is an extreme understatement.

They love you unconditionally (okay, maybe the food has something to do with it).

I really think that I transfer to our pets some of the affection that was absent in our alcoholic house growing up.

Wholesome

Our family dog when I was growing up used to get very upset when I did drugs in the basement. My parents had hung bells on the back door so the dog would ring them when she wanted out...... well anytime we were getting high that dog would ring the bells over and over to wake up my dad! Used to drive me nuts but in hindsight it was very sweet of her to be concerned for me and in her own way protecting me.