Last night, Dennis and I had a members meeting at church. While we were there, it apparently rained, as evidenced by the wet cars and roads. We didn't know how bad of a rainstorm it was, however, until we got home. You see, our dog, Dusty, is terrified of lightening and thunder, and the poor thing becomes a raging maniac during a storm.
When Dennis and I walked in the front door, our German Shepherd, Molly, was right there to meet us. Dusty was nowhere to be seen. We started calling for him, but he didn't appear. We knew then that he must be hiding because of the storm, so we started searching for him.
We noticed the gate to the upstairs had been knocked down, therefore we knew he was somewhere on the second floor. Once we got upstairs, we started calling Dusty's name and looked in all of the rooms, but Dusty was nowhere to be found. It was then that we heard a shuffling sound, which appeared to be coming from somewhere in the wall between our guestroom and the laundry room.
Dennis and I listened as the shuffling continued. We then looked at each other with bewilderment: Could that dopey dog have somehow gotten into the wall? He is not a small dog; part Keeshond, he stands about 24" tall and weighs about 30 pounds, so we couldn't believe that he could possibly be in the wall. The evidence, however, said otherwise!
We continued listening to the sounds coming from the wall (no barks or whimpering, just that shuffling), and determined that they were coming from behind the clothes dryer in the laundry room, where there was an opening in the wall for the dryer vent. We looked behind the dryer, and there was Dusty's head poking out of the wall. How he managed to get back there was a mystery to us, because he sure couldn't get back out! Dennis pulled the dryer away from the wall, and Dusty was then able to "pop" out of the wall, none the worse for the wear.
So, this morning I washed a load of clothes, stuck them in the dryer, and turned in on. The dryer sounded funny, and after a couple minutes, I noticed an odor coming from it that wasn't normal -- almost like a burning smell. I figured that Dusty must have done something to the dryer when he squeezed himself into the wall behind it. I looked and noticed that a section of the dryer exhaust hose leading to the dryer vent was completely flattened. To avoid the potential of a fire, the hose needs to be fixed.
I am unable to pull the dryer away from the wall to get behind it and fix the hose, so that takes care of doing any more laundry today! Well, I'm sure it will be waiting for me tomorrow. As for Dusty, Dennis and I will make sure that we close the laundry room door whenever rain is predicted.
Dusty also freaks out whenever his picture is being taken. As soon as he hears the camera start to focus, he immediately jumps up, turns away from the camera, and quickly leaves the room. I took these photos of Dusty this morning.
1. Dusty quietly laying on the floor of the dining room.
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2. I get my camera and start to focus in on Dusty. He is immediately up and trying to go under the dining room table to hide..JPG)
3. I am able to grab him and semi-pull him out from under the table to get his picture. After I let him go, he ran out of the room. 
This dog really needs psychiatric help!
