Change is a slow process, and it takes work. Overcoming a fear doesn’t happen overnight, and setbacks are normal. At least, these are the things I used to remind my clients in my former life as a therapist. Clearly, the same process is true for pups.

From the start, Ella has had a fear of the vacuum cleaner. There have been glimmers of courage and progress since the early days when she ran and hid behind the toilet or tried to squeeze herself into a space one-quarter the width of her puppy belly behind the bookshelf. On several occasions since that time, she’s boldly come within a few inches of the Bissell, at one point even sniffing its attachments. My brave girl.

But, of late, she’s reverted to past behaviors a bit. As the clips below show, she has at least learned that she is now too big to seek refuge behind the bookshelf. She’s now turned to the TV tray as her fallout shelter. As you’ll see in the first clip, it’s a good thing I had the window closed or else she would have made a mad dash out and down the fire escape. Of course, there’s a cat in heat down there that’s howling so crazily it scares both of us, so I’m not sure that would have really calmed Ella’s nerves as she’d hoped.

I must say, it is interesting that Ella is so terrified of the vacuum yet has absolutely no fear of any loud noise momma can make to distract/scare her when she’s chewing up a bill or stealing the toilet paper roll from the bathroom. Do you think they make battery-operated portable vacuums that I could carry in my pocket and turn on whenever she’s misbehaving? I’ll check ebay…or hsn.com…i’m sure I can’t be the first to think of this…

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