Creepy Crickets

My brave service dog can handle almost anything. He rides planes and buses, sleeps at the side of the rugby court, works amongs crowds, and walks over strange surfaces. But I guess we all have something we are afraid of and for Morey that seems to be crickets.

The weather in Austin this summer has resulted in a plague of crickets. They are everywhere; inside and outside. It's impossible to avoid them and after a while you just get used to seeing them in buildings, sidewalks, and all over the place.

I didn't notice Morey's aversion to crickets until one day at the gym. Morey was laying under the bleachers in his usual spot and I was warming up a few feet away. All of a sudden I noticed him crawling and scooting out from under the bleachers. I looked at him with surprise and he looked back in fear. I went over for a closer look to see what had rattled my usually calm and mellow Morey. All I saw was a cricket, so I told Morey to go back under the bleachers. He got up and slowly went back under, obviously reluctantly and still fearful. I waited and watched him for a moment, still trying to figure out what was wrong. Then the cricket started moving toward him. I have never seen Morey try to flatten himself against the wall like that but he wanted to stay as far away as possible from the cricket.

With this suspicion beginning to form, I released Morey to see what he would do. Immediately he bolted out from the bleachers and came to stand by me. He wagged his tail at me as if to say "thanks for getting me away from that thing!". I had to start my work out, so I positioned Morey away from the cricket and he went back to his usual good self.

Since that time I have noticed that he will purposely walk around crickets on the floor and avoid them any way possible. I'm not sure if it's their sound or their smell, but Morey has made it very clear that he wants to keep his distance from crickets!