Summer is supposed to start on Monday, officially. With the way things are going with the weather, who knows? It's been fall-esque weather here in central Vancouver Island for all of spring with a few days that could be considered summer-like. I hope that we get a nice summer... We have so much work to do in the yard that it would be nice to have some encouragement in the form of sun.
So I've been a little behind on things lately. I recently picked up a casual position at another retirement home to supplement my near-part time job. On top of that, I've been sick off and on for a while. I'm thinking my whole family might be getting sick more frequently and staying sick longer because of allergies... Now, the only thing that is different this year compared to last year is that we have a dog. Uh oh!
My dog. Uhg. He is a snuggly, cute shedding machine in the house. As soon as you put a stranger into the mix, he turns into a fear aggressor. I've been trying many methods to help train the behavior out of him. Around the house, he is a submissive member of the pack, but outside, I'm not sure what happens. I've tried getting out house visitors in on the training, but none of them actually listen and follow through with what I've asked of them.
For example, if a dog is barking at you... Don't bend over to the dog. It's seen as threatening. If he's barking at you, don't say he's a good dog. One, you're reinforcing the behavior, two he's not going to stop barking because you're saying that. If If I ask you not to acknowledge the dog while he's barking, please DON'T ACKNOWLEDGE THE DOG. I don't get mad at people (outside of my family :P) easily, but this one thing does make me very angry. Don't look at a(n aggressively) barking dog. Just don't. Ignore the heck out of him and he will calm down, realizing that he has no power over you.
So essentially, if you're coming to my house, ignore my dog until he stops barking. Why is that so hard for people to do?