Speaking Of Barking
A Buddhist proverb says that when the student is ready, the teacher appears. My dogs are the teachers that came to me and I am a humble student of Bob the dog. He has taught me volumes about barking. Bob, (his full name is Bob Barker) is the reporter of the family. The Barker Reports include notice of passers by, trash collection, neighbors arriving home, lurking wildlife and the voices in his head. If he would give the weather, I could cancel my cable TV subscription.
Bells of any variety are Bob’s cue to sound off. Phones in particular are his call to action. Like children, my dogs feel the need to act out and vocalize during telephone conversations. It’s a dog trainer’s worst nightmare to have barking dogs in the background throughout a phone consultation with a client. I’m sure I’d experience many a vote of no-confidence and a quick hang-up if I turned from the phone to scream, “Shut up! I’m tryin’ to talk here!” I swear those dogs could be lying on their sides on the kitchen floor for 6 hours straight with nary a peep but, just let the phone ring…
Perhaps my dogs’ barking is a conspiracy. I’ll bet they check the caller ID in the other room before deciding whether to bark. I can hear MoJo saying, “No, Bob. It’s not a client. Don’t bother getting up.”
It seems that the act of my sitting down at the computer is also a nod to Bob for another report. “Barking Dog Productions”, a division of my business offering graphic design for dog trainers is named for my dogs. Whether I’m writing or designing at the computer, my dogs take their cue to bark. You guessed it. They’re barking right now!
Then there’s my German Shepherd Dog, Jude. He acquired his name because he happens to be one of those overly dramatic shepherds that whine a lot. Jude…we always have to take his sad song and make it better.
Jude gives Bob Barker a run for his barking money when in the back yard. Jude has learned the consequence of his excess barking is a time-out. When he’s in the yard barking his fool head off, I call him into the house. After enough times out, all I have to do is show up at the back door… he’s already on his way in with his head hung low. I don’t have to call him anymore. It’s as if he’s saying, “What was I thinking? I need a time out”. His self-imposed times-out save me a lot of breath and leave me in awe at the intelligence of a dog whose favorite pastime next to barking is watching the toilet flush!