NeedleCloud

The latest on the dog is I’m pretty sure in an attempt to train him to control his urges to bark we have been teaching him to bark.

CRAP!

Saul has one of the most insane barks I’ve ever heard. It’s not really high pitched or yappy it’s just loud. He barked in my ear last night and it’s still ringing. I think he slightly deafened me.

The past week or so he’s started regressing into old bad habits. Being really agitated, barking, not listening. This morning for an hour he’s just basically paced from the kitchen to the window. Growling at nothing, barking at nothing. When he’s been barking we call him to us and give him a treat when he’s quiet. I think he’s purposely barking so he can be called and given a treat. Sneaky smart dog.

It’s kind of back to square one on that. I guess we just have to be really specific in what we’re asking him to do.

His voice rattles my nerves so much I was actually considering getting an anti-bark collar. Not a shock collar but one of the ones that sprays them with a ‘harmless shot of citronella’. I can’t do it though. It would make me really sad to do that to him.

I’m hoping he’s just going through some sort of weird phase right now and it’ll pass. He was doing so well.

In one of the million dog training books I read it made mention of dogs going through an aggressive phase at about 18 months old. He’s definitely holding true to that. He has it out for our neighbors dog, and other dogs that look like her. Normally he’s super sweet and social with most dogs, but he wants to kill her. Even from a block away he goes nuts. Every time she walks by our door, which thankfully is only a handful of times a day, he loses his mind. He ripped the weather stripping off the bottom of the door.

He pulled the screws out and ripped the metal so he could put his mouth in the space under the door and bark through it.

It’ll just take patience and time.

But inter-species relations have greatly improved.

Seamus now will tolerate sitting on the floor with him for short periods of time. She too has a pretty low tolerance for his loud barking and beats him into submission on a daily basis. I think I’ll just let her take over the dog training responsibilities. He listens to her much better anyway.

Here’s my favorite picture this week.

Wednesday it was a balmy 70° and I made an avocado, mango and chicken salad for dinner. It was pretty yummy.

All right that’s it for now. I really have to get to work.