The world can be a scary place. Pastor Gary said so. It’s really true if you are a very little puppy like I am. A lot of the things that scare me are really big and noisy. 

Like… I really don’t like it when Mr. Robert pulls out the vacuum cleaner. It’s big and loud and one time, I dreamed it sucked me right up with the stuff on the floor!  I told Mr. Robert that one time and he laughed. He told me that the vacuum cleaner was not going to eat me. I trust Mr. Robert, but I don’t know if I trust the vacuum cleaner. 

I also get really scared when it starts thundering outside. Boomy, loud noises like thunder and fireworks send this little puppy running for a chair to hide under or a lap to sit in! 

And it scares me when I think about getting lost. Not just getting lost, but thinking that nobody will come to look for me. I think that’s because I didn’t have a home for a long time. Plus, Miss Julie says that would never happen, because she and Mr. Robert would never stop looking for me. Besides that, I have my nifty new collar tag that has a tracker in it. Miss Franny from Franny’s Friends gave it to me last fall. 

I wondered why we have fear. So me and Miss Julie did a little research and here’s what I found out. 

Fear is a natural and normal chemical response that is wired into our brains. When we are in a scary situation our brains send chemical messages to the rest of our bodies that tell us we need to fight, run, or sometimes just be still. All the chemicals rushing through your body are designed to keep you safe. They cause some pretty cool physical reactions: