The Hangover

Barley, a dog, sleeps in a manner that looks less relaxed than it does exhausted.

I’ve given a lot of thought to why Barley seems to nervous when she goes to the vet. She didn’t used to, and I don’t have reason to think they’re treating her badly. However, a majority of her visits are to have her teeth cleaned, which requires general anesthesia following a pre-treatment dose of benzos. We see Barley here deflated in the hours following her return home from the vet, a funk that takes her about a day to shake off. What I’ve begun to suspect is that she really doesn’t like the experience of emerging from an amnestic sleep, stoned and disoriented, in a strange place, and that the reason she gets so nervous when we got the vet is that she anticipates that she’s about to sail once more down Willy Wonka’s Tunnel of Terror.