Living With The Family Fun Pack
Chapter 2: Jude
My German Shepherd is an overly dramatic dog. In other words, he whines a lot. He got the name Jude because we always have to take his sad song and make it better. Jude is not the most athletic dog I’ve known. He lived with me for five years before he realized that he could jump. Every night at bedtime, he would enter the bedroom ahead of me, and then put his front paws up on the bed. Leaning on his elbows, he always looked as if he was praying, so I taught him to put his head down on his paws on the cue, “Say your prayers.” Suddenly one night, he surprised me (and himself) by taking one nimble leap and sticking a perfect landing in the center of my bed. He remained there for the next 6 months.
I have to say that I miss “saying our prayers” every night. It has occurred to me that perhaps, for the previous 5 years, Jude was praying that he could sleep on the bed. Evidently, his prayers were answered the night he discovered his ability to jump.
In my humble and jaded opinion, Jude is a drop-dead traffic-stopping handsome specimen of a German Shepherd. Walks with him are more like a fashion show runway experience. One day during an outing in the company of Jude, a man slowed down his vehicle and shouted to us, “Magnificent!” I replied, “Thanks! And my dog ain’t bad either!”
Jude is also the exemplary watchdog. He is eternally positioned at a self-appointed post in the yard, the one with an uninterrupted view of the alley. This is where he puts the neighborhood on notice by barking, “German Shepherd On Duty! German Shepherd On Duty!” Granted, we don’t live in the most crime free neighborhood, but it seemed to me, Jude’s sentinel behavior was in excess. With each alert barking overindulgence, I’d call Jude into the house for a break.
Once, in a brief moment of clarity, I wondered if Jude’s increasing “sentry barking” had become a signal to me that he wanted to be let in. He demonstrated that very fact one day while I was mopping floors and denied his request to come in. After this rejection, I watched that dog run to his post, do the sentry bark, and then return immediately to the back door.
Because I’m a dog trainer, a courteous citizen and due to the fact that my neighbors know I’m a dog trainer, I began to formulate a plan to decrease Jude’s annoying barking. I decided he needed a better way to tell me he wanted to come into the house. My “Aha!” moment arrived when I thought about all the dogs I’ve taught to ring a bell to signal that they want to go outside. Why not teach Jude to ring a bell to let me know when he wants in? I then proceeded to raid my Christmas decoration storage boxes and located a sleigh bell that would do the trick. I hung the bell on the back door and taught Jude how to ring it with his nose (his long German Shepherd nose fit the bill nicely). Now, instead of the loud, irritating barking when Jude wants in, the neighbors and I are hearing jingle bells.
Even though, we’ve found a more tolerable signal for Jude to alert me that he wants in, he’s still prone to dramatics. He’s been known to knock the bell right off of the doorknob when he’s convinced that I’ve left the country, forgetting him in the back yard.