After his last walk of the day yesterday, Kilroy, like always, promptly went upstairs and put himself to bed in the pack den.
An hour later, just past 10:00, he came tearing down the stairs, frantic. Something was definitely wrong: he came down the stairs both alone and in the dark—two things he hates to do.
He stood in the living room shaking violently with fear…then the panting started. He stared towards the front door with great concern, shaking like a leaf. He was inconsolable for hours, for no apparent reason. We finally got him to go back to bed, but he panted and drooled for quite some time before falling asleep. By this morning, he was back to normal.
It wasn’t storming or raining, which is his usual source of stress. Nothing in the pack den had fallen and we didn’t hear any strange noises from upstairs. There wasn’t anything scary on TV. He hadn’t eaten anything different, and had been perfectly normal until then. Could it have been the full moon?
Kilroy may be a Diva, but he doesn’t make up sources of anxiety. What other invisible force could have caused such a strong reaction?
I figured it out today: an earthquake!
RICHMOND, VA — A 2.3 magnitude earthquake rattled parts of Virginia late Sunday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The temblor was registered at 10:11 p.m. Sunday with the epicenter located 6 kilometers from Goochland, Virginia, near Richmond. The USGS reports that people in Rockville, Maryland, felt the quake. ~Kingstowne Patch
The earthquake was 130 miles away! Amazing!!
We noticed some time ago that Kilroy is very in tune with weather systems; he’s our very own meteorologist. His energy, sleeping, and eating habits are clues about what tomorrow holds. Now we have a canine early warning system!
Here’s an interesting Psychology Today article on the topic: Can Dogs Predict Earthquakes?
Kilroy IS Here 