We had a thunderstorm very early this morning. I would have slept right through it, but A.J. made sure to let me know what was going on. When I woke up to his barking I was sleepy enough not to care what it was about. I told him “Shush,” petted him for a moment (since he was standing by the side of the bed), then told him to go back to bed.

Very soon after that he barked again. This time I woke up enough to open my eyes and see the flash of lightning outside. Now that I knew what he was barking at, I also knew he wasn’t going to stop. He again was sitting right next to me beside the bed, so I got up, sat on the floor, and petted him.

As the wind and rain pounded the windows and the lightning continued to flash, A.J. settled down and stopped barking. After about five minutes of sitting with me, he got up, walked over to his bed, laid down – and fell asleep. The message was pretty clear. Now that I was up guarding the house from the evil flashes he could go back to sleep.

Wait a minute – isn’t it the dog who’s supposed to guard the house?