“I have more letters behind my name than you do; get your own chair.”
Sometimes we think, “Oh, man, I’d really like to fix this annoying behavior thing, but I just don’t have the time to put into it.”
Oh, you don’t think that? Just me? Well, it’s my blog, so I’m going to talk about it anyway.
My Shakespeare is 12 years old now. He’s earned twenty-some titles and done demos for hundreds of people and has done meet-and-greet and dog safety demos with literally thousands of handicapped and at-risk children. He’s a good boy, and as a retired rock star, he pretty much gets to run the house the way he likes it. For the most part, that’s how we like it, too.
He gets excited about supper, though, and that often results in excitement barking. Not the manly deep barking one might expect from a Doberman, but squeaky emotional barking which sometimes hits just the right pitch to push my sinuses through the top of my skull.
I could teach him to relax for dinner. Heck, the hair-trigger Laevatein automatically lies down and pretends to be calm as I get out the raw food. But he’s generally a good boy and it’s just not worth the time….
So the other night, when his barking just hit the wrong pitch, I picked up a toy and told him to hold it. He did. Even a retired rock star can’t hold a Kong Stuff-a-Ball and bark at the same time. I cut up the food, rewarded him for handing me the ball nicely (no reinforcement for spitting the toy!), and then fed dinner.
Now the question is, why did it take me so long to think of that?
Nice to hear that others have those ‘aha’ moments that should have seemed obvious ages ago. Books and dissertations are written on ideas and inspiration and where they come from. At least we can thank the dogs for providing us with the opportunity to come up with as many as we’ve needed to. Even if they are a bit tardy in coming.