When You’re Piglet in a Pooh World

When my oldest daughter was a child, we watched a Winnie the Pooh cartoon about Piglet on a blustery day. There was my childhood in a cartoon! As a small child growing up in West Texas, I often felt like Piglet as the wind blew him hither and yon. We’d jump up in the air on the playground and see how far we blew! The wind is notorious there, and it’s frightening when you don’t have enough ballast to hold you down. When you’re a small person, you feel vulnerable among others who are always bigger. Lucky Piglet had Pooh as a friend – someone big to hold him down, pick him up, and handle the things he is too little to do alone, like carrying a honey pot.

Although I’m all grown up now, I’m still vertically challenged. Luckily, my husband is a bit like Pooh because he is tall and can reach all the upper cabinets for me. He’s not soft and pudgy like Pooh, though; he’s strong and capable. I guess he’s a good fit for me, and I feel safe and secure with him.

It’s clear that our newest family member relates to Piglet. At a year old, Rizz is a full-grown adult dog. He is still small, only 11 pounds, and a little under 10 inches tall. Next to our Garnet, he doesn’t feel so small since she is a miniature schnauzer mix. I think he feels a bit inadequate next to River, our 55-pound standard poodle, though. They found a way to play together, which was initially challenging for River. To make up for his inability to make River share toys with him, Rizz ratchets up his best weapon – his bark.

His loud, shrill bark drives me up a wall. It doesn’t intimidate River in the least. Not to be deterred, Rizz doubles down and barks longer and louder when River has something that Rizz wants. I look for distractions. A lot. It is the only way to get him to stop barking when he is determined to get his way, and River is, too.

Rizz barks when he’s feeling willful. But there are many times when Rizz is silent. Is there a stranger in the house? He’s quiet. Do we hear an odd noise in the middle of the night? He seldom says a word. When the dog in the yard behind our house barks, neither dog barks back. Barking brings attention, and I think sometimes Rizz just wants to hide. At other times, I notice he feels anxious and quietly comes to me for reassurance. He sits beside me, cuddled up close to look at the scary thing from a safe place. He follows me everywhere I go and sleeps beside me at night. River may be his Pooh sometimes, but I find it funny that I am his Pooh, too. He feels safe with me.

I understand feeling small and vulnerable; I know what it’s like to want safety and security. I am beginning to see that Rizz is often anxious about what is going on or because he doesn’t know what will happen next. I hope that feeling will fade as he matures, but I know that being more mature will never change the fact that he’s a small dog in a big world. I recognize the bluster in him as a defense mechanism because I’m that way sometimes, too. Since I’ve not had anxious pets before, I could use some help. How do you help your pets deal with anxiety at home, on the road, and everywhere else?