[Dailydrool] "When You Wish Upon a Star"

[Pamela McQuade]

Yesterday Horton came home from his vet visit for the last of his 
heartworm shots. He is not a good traveler, and this time was no 
different. He intermittently howled, obviously unhappy at being crated.



The problem is that if I don't take Drew's van, which holds the crate, 
he escapes from the backseat of my Honda Accord and tries to come up in 
the front seat. Or he will hide under the slinglike thing I have in the 
back that is supposed to keep dogs in the backseat and works on everyone 
but him. Nothing seems to keep him restrained. I have tie-downs, but he 
has figured out how to disconnect them from the seatbelt and escape. If 
he could, he would lie in my lap while I drove.



So this time, as he was howling, I remembered Dawn of the West's story 
about singing "When You Wish Upon a Star" to her hounds, to settle them 
down at night (sorry, I don't remember if her story was on the Drool or 
Facebook). I figured it couldn't hurt to try.



My voice is not so hot, and the song is not the easiest to sing, but I 
gave it my all. And lo and behold, after a few repeats of the first 
verse, which is all I could remember, Horton settled down beautifully. 
By that time, my voice was warmed up, and I didn't sound so bad. We 
drove for an hour or so with no trouble at all. But we had to make a 
stop on the way home, and once he realized we'd passed the usual exit, 
the howling began again.



Another few repeats of the first verse, and he settled down again.



I think Dawn is on to something here. I just hope it works the next time 
we need to travel. And I hope I can learn the whole song, so I don't 
have to keep repeating that one verse that has barely stuck in my 
memory.

Pam, food slave to the Dashing Bassets