Dog days of ... winter

It was nearly 3 a.m. Monday and I could hear the wind howling outside. All I wanted to do was stay curled up in my bed under the warm comforter. But something wasn't letting me -- my almost 7-year-old black labrador, Disney.

A storm must have freaked her out when she was a puppy. So when it's as windy as it was overnight Sunday, she just paces in the bedroom -- and usually on my side of the bed. Occasionally she'll hop on the bed and curl up with me, but seconds later she's back on the floor pacing.

After a few minutes of this on Monday morning, I got out of the nice, warm bed and put Disney on the leash -- thinking she may have had to go to the bathroom -- and let her out behind the house. She walked off the deck -- and just stood in the yard in the wind. And stood there. And stood there.

I turned on The Weather Channel to see the wind chill temperature: it was -9 degrees. And my dog who hates hearing the wind was still standing in the yard, right in the middle of it.

After a few minutes, I put on my coat and went out to get her. I tried to get Disney to go into the basement, where a few days earlier on a day that wasn't so cold and not as windy, she spent much of her afternoon.

I know dogs get scared during thunderstorms, but Disney's actions when just the wind blows are a bit neurotic.