The Chest of Drawers

Today, I helped Boyfriend put together a chest of drawers.

Partly because he's my boyfriend and I love him. Partly because it was hot and letting him do all the work himself was cruel. Partly because the manual said you needed two people to do so (and you totally did). But mostly because I'd hounded him all day to do it so his mom wouldn't be pissed disappointed tomorrow and he was grumpy, so helping seemed like the right thing to do.

He'd brought Iggy to the studio, together with his dad's power drill and my tool set from IKEA. My tools are sturdier than the bits for the power drill.

But the weird thing is, Iggy doesn't mind noise. At all. He's fascinated and curious and if it squeaks, he wants it. We dropped stuff, there were curses, there's road works outside the apartment, a dog gets dropped off every day and barks until we go potty... And Iggy's fine with it. He doesn't bark or howl, but he wants to be part of the party.

The only problem is that he's very inhibited around people. Very, very inhibited. He's starting to drink and eat when Boyfriend and me are around, but other people still send him shivering and running off. As long as he doesn't get watched, he's fine. One look and he freezes.

We discussed this with J., W. and most people in the studio who asked why the little dog wasn't Cindy and didn't seem to like people.

The only logical conclusion is that Iggy, somehow, for some reason, is dead scared of people.

He's slowly starting to warm up to the idea of people, which is a big step forward, but there's a big condition to this idea. He doesn't want to be touched. Or looked at. Or talked to. Or gotten close to by strangers. But them being at a safe distance and ignoring him, he can totally live with that. He even follows people in the studio around, just to see what happens. Until someone turns around and sees him, then goes 'ooooh, what a cute doggy'. Then he runs off to hide against a wall.

With Boyfriend and me, it's getting okay. He follows us home from the yard, provided we hide behind the door and walk in front of him. But he makes sure we're around. He looks for us when he gets insecure, then hides somewhere he can see us.

Things might take a while longer than planned, but he's getting better. Next week, we're taking him to the vet.