I’ve believed for a long time that dogs are empathic.  Their ability to sense when we aren’t ourselves or aren’t feeling well is amazing.  My previous dog, Sierra, understood my arthritis pain.  She knew I had a problem with my feet.  She would hop up on the bed and gentle lay her head on my legs always careful not to touch on my feet.

Tuesday afternoon, I got an ocular migraine.  Normally, they fade and leave me with tired eyes.  Sometimes, a migraine follows.  An hour after the shapes faded, my sinus started killing me and I had a humdinger of a headache.

Usually, in the evening Misha goes off to her tent and I go work on the computer.  But, that night my brain wasn’t functioning, light hurt my eyes, and my stomach was swirling.  All I wanted to do was lay down and get this thing over with.

Now, normally whenever I sit or lay on the bed in the evening Misha sees this as a green light to either attack my back or jump on my lap.  After all, if I’m not there to massage her neck, what the heck am I doing on the bed in the first place?

But this night, she approached the bed.  First, she locked in on the wash rag covering my eyes.  I could sense her staring at me.  I thought “Uh oh, I’m in trouble!”  I’ve seen that look.  It means her curiosity is going to get the better of her and she is going to pounce.

Instead, my dog sat and watched.  Instead of jumping on me with glee, she sniffed around, then curled up at my side.  There we both rested for 3 hours with her barely making a sound.

I think this is the most restraint she has ever shown!  Maybe migraines have a smell to them that dogs can detect.  Whatever it was, she understood that I didn’t want to be bothered.

At bed time, we have our routine.  First, it’s outside to go potty, then a round of hide and seek with treats.  I really didn’t feel like hiding treats, so I sat on the bed and threw little pieces for her to catch.  She seems a bit disappointed.  She searched around the house for a minute or two, then decided that there would be no game that night.  She made her spot at the end of the bed and went to sleep.