Twin and his dog feel brother's anxiety

My brother, my dog and I.

My brother and I are 47-year-old twins. I now live in Chicago; he still lives on Long Island. We are both married and work in related fields. We have always had a connection, being close and been able to know when the other is having trouble. You know that “Twin Thing”.

Whenever either one of us has one of those moments when anxiety strikes, the other one knows that something generally is going on, and soon after there is a call. It is creepy at times.

I try to stay pretty mellow; my brother is a bit higher strung. We have 3 Dachshunds, a mom, dad and puppy. My dog Miss Tea, a 6-year-old dachshund (the mom), has a seizure whenever anxiety strikes me and I am near her. She gets all tense; muscles tighten, and she loses bladder control. It’s really bad until we can calm her down.

My wife and daughters are good at calming her down. When this happens I feel really guilty which doesn’t help her.

What has been happening more often is that when my brother has an anxiety attack and I feel an unexplained tenseness for no apparent reason, my dog is now having seizures.

Here's an example. In the summer, we like to camp. I was changing locks on our trailer bins. I was on the last of seven. Sun was shining, blue sky, and wonderfully cool early summer morning in the Midwest. My wife and kids where still in their PJs in the trailer, when I had tenseness come over me and thoughts of my brother. I could not explain being so tense since I was almost done with such a simple thing to do.

Minutes later my daughter stuck her head out and said that Miss Tea was having a seizure. We calmed her down and I called my brother in New York. He had a ton of kids over playing with his son, driveway full of bikes, scooters and what not. His wife was coming home with loads of groceries. He was behind on all kinds of things to do.

He was having a great start to his day. I asked him to calm down since he was driving my dog crazy.

Last evening, in the kitchen, Miss Tea leans over on her side against cabinet. She was all tight having a seizure. I was tense, attempting to stay calm, but not knowing why I was tense in the first place. We calmed her down. I called my brother, he was running late. Family was waiting. There was lots of traffic, trying to figure out what they would be doing for dinner before Karate practice. I again asked him to stay calm and offered to call our veterinarian to give him something to stay calm.

Artie Miller

Hanover Park, IL