Evil Floors

SUMMARY: Genetics.

You know how uncarpeted floors suddenly became evil to Boost about 4 years ago? (The same kinds of floors at home remained OK, but anywhere else--even ones she was familiar with--suddenly became evil.)

Boost couldn't walk on them at all without complete panic, toenails scrabbling, all hunched up, legs akimbo and lowered towards the floor. If it were absolutely desperately necessary for her to get across an evil floor, she'd hug the wall and stay low and fast and then it was apparently almost OK, if she stayed right next to the wall, to get across the floor with more or less normal walkage.

Even unfamiliar surfaces that weren't really smooth but that *looked* smooth became impossible to walk normally on.

Sometimes she'd get stuck on a small carpet and couldn't get off.

Gradually, over a year or so, we discovered that, if she kept her rear feet on the carpet, she could move her front feet around on the evil floors with no problem. That was pretty funny.

Then she got to the point where, if her rear legs were stretched out and CLOSE to the carpet, her front legs were fine. That was pretty funny, too.

But then she advanced to where she'd stretch herself across an entire room like that--rear legs as if there were a carpet, but in fact none were in sight.

The relatives and guest dogs are even amused.

(And then she'd have to back up to get back to the carpet--no turning around and walking normally!)

That's about where we are these days. After a day or so being around an evil floor, she occasionally forgets that it's evil and walks normally, but no guarantee that that will last even the whole evening.

So, anyway.

Found out Friday night that her daddy, Coty, ALWAYS hated smooth floors and spent his entire life hugging the wall when in a room with evil floors, hurrying and staying low to quickly get back to safe footing.

INNNNNteresting.

Oh, realllly?? FASCinating!