My name is Virgil!

COURTESY POST, NOT IN THE CARE OF TDR

If Virgil was a human he’d be described as being on the autism spectrum.  He is a very lovable dog and not unlike Ferdinand the Bull if you are familiar with that children’s book.  Ferdinand did not want to be in a bullring with a matador, he only wanted to sit under a cork tree and smell flowers.  Virgil just likes to sleep and eat.  He also likes to be loved on.  Mainly he stays on his bed in the den and sleeps or he sleeps outside in the shade or in the sun depending on his preference at that moment.  I have never heard him bark.  He has never gotten on our furniture.  He doesn’t even venture throughout our house.  He chooses to stay in the kitchen and den area.  He seems genuinely afraid to go anywhere else in our house although no room is off limits.  He won’t even sleep in our bedroom with our other dog and our cat.  All three pets get along but Virgil won’t walk past the hallway leading to our room.  He’s simply odd like that.  And he is terribly frightened by bad weather and fireworks.  He becomes catatonic—shaking so much he appears as if he isn’t.  When frightened, he stares, shakes, and drools.  We give him prescription meds on New Year’s Eve and the Fourth of July to help him cope with the fireworks.  On these nights and during storms I lay with him and hug him and talk to him softly.  He is a big ole lovable scaredy cat.  The only reason we are seeking a new home for Virgil is because my husband’s handicap is more pronounced now than when we got Virgil from the Humane Society and Virgil is larger now.