Woof!


I feel like a dog.

Perhaps I should provide a wee preamble. I have asthma, which is triggered by all kinds of smells – perfume and cologne, scented products (lotion, soap, shampoo, etc.), cleaning products, flowers, you mention it. If it has a smell, I’m likely to start wheezing. Especially when my lungs have already been provoked by previous exposure to a trigger factor. Smog’s a big one, being in an elevator with someone who has marinated in scent, is another.

This also makes me very sensitive to smells and brings us right back to why I feel like a dog. I imagine that if a dog could talk, it’d spend most of the time it wasn’t licking its naughty bits (which I do not, by the way), eating, barfing and sleeping (I do eat and sleep, though), asking people “do you smell that? Don’t tell me you can’t smell that?? It’s positively REEKING!”. I can see it now… all excitedly dancing about, nose in the air, sniffing away, yelping about the SMELL and becoming increasingly convinced it’s insane because no one believes it about the damned smell.

That’s why I feel like a dog. I can smell things that no one else can smell - except, I suspect, animals and other people with asthma. I currently have a mystery smell in my wall that I first noticed Thursday evening. It wasn’t until 48 hours later that others could smell it. I’m sure some people think I’m nuts. God knows, I often feel like a complete looney.

Argh.

But staying in the metaphor, I’m planning on spending today thinking about what kind of dog I’d be. Any suggestions?

Comments

Mia said…
Don't feel alone. I also have asthma and can smell things that others can't. They think I am strange but my nose has saved me more than once. I figure if I can smell it why should I go near it. I can also taste stuff others can't. And why be a dag, be a cat.
Anonymous said…
I think you would be some sort of terrier. Always full of energy, always excited about something, loyal and when you get your teeth into something, it's hard for you to let go...(said lovingly, of course).
Anonymous said…
Afghans are beautiful but not intelligent enough for LA.

I agree with the fiesty as
a terrier but I am leaning toward
the English Springer Spaniel ranked 13 on the dog IQ list. (smarter than Lassie) but also bouncy and fun and a little distractable. Oh, what's that.....
Anonymous said…
My mother is cursed with a nose like yours -- she smells milk going bad two weeks before the due date. The only time I approached this was when pregnant -- the Moss Man superhero doll was impregnated with some pine scent I could pick up even when it was under the couch.

Oh, I thought it was what kind of dog it would be good to be -- in which case I'm all for Clumber Spaniels. Not that I've seen anything but pictures, but the friend who had them called them Land Manatees. My kinda dawg. -- rams
Anonymous said…
Are you sure Springer Spaniels have a high IQ? I have a springer spaniel/Border Collie cross and he is as mad as a hatter and daft as a brush! Sorry about the asthma, hang on in there.
Anonymous said…
Are you sure Springer Spaniels have a high IQ? I have a springer spaniel/Border Collie cross and he is as mad as a hatter and daft as a brush! Sorry about the asthma, hang on in there.

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