Over the river and through the woods, or, A difficult visit

We took a trip to Ojai to visit our relatives.  Below is a picture of me with some of them.

From my perspective, the evening was problematic.

From my hosts' perspective, I was not the easiest guest. 

What threw me was the presence of their puppy, Annie.  Annie did a lot of swiping at me with her paw to try to engage me in play.  Each time that paw came toward me I got nervous and snapped.

It got to the point where, as depicted in the photo at left, I growled when Annie even looked at me.

    Things went downhill from there.  I was not my finest self.

    I began begging to be picked up.  The more anxious I got, the less safe I felt anywhere but in my owner's lap.   

  
I made it through a reading of Peter in Blueberry Land, but when my owner put me down so she could play with the young master of the house, I freaked out.

 It was time to go home.  I was not proud of my performance, but I was relieved that it was over.