SHUT UP!!!



I had no idea how quiet it can be when there are only two people in the house.  The two youngest went to camp for two weeks the oldest is away at college and so it is just the middle girl and me, well the damn dogs are still here but it’s quite.  The dogs hang with me down stairs and a few of them are barkers so every time someone comes down stairs which is often to go to laundry room, ask me a question or to get extra supplies that are kept in there, one or more of them start in barking; this will get everyone else in on the barking fun.  So there is no peace and quiet with the kids around there mere presence moving around the house keeps the dogs riled. With one on the couch passed out and me in my bed passed out, we enjoyed an evening of uninterrupted unconsciousness.  We did nothing at all. The dogs ran rampant through the house, but they did not bark so we slept right through all the mess they created.  When I woke up at 10pm I didn’t even feel guilty.  I’m thinking that this could get habit forming. It was worth the mess we had to clean up.

I have 4 dogs that are nervous Nellies: Two bark at the girls walking around upstairs, hell they bark at them laughing upstairs, any sound sets them off. Two others are my protectors. If any one comes in the back door or leaves it they hear them and go off.  The girls coming down stairs is another trigger.  Now most of them can be shut up with a smack on the wall with the Texas fly swatter or repeating a hundred times SHUT UP!!!!!  Now depending on the bark they use, it can set the rest of the pack in hot barking pursuit from where ever they are in the house. By the time they get to where ever the original barker is and find out there is nothing there they shut up on their own.  Now I have one that cannot be quieted, that’s my Cabot he barks at any movement he sees or anticipates he will see. He has been this way since I rescued him. He loves everyone and will jump up to get petted or held by anyone.  He sees a hair brush and will come running to get his crest brushed. He can be in a room full of strangers and not make a sound.  Now let one of them stand up and he starts in: If they sit back down he stops.   I am the only one that can move around him without barking. He barks at the girls if they open a door and enter the room he in.  Now if they move around in his vision he will calm down but they just can’t enter through a door or come down the stairs. There are nights that I have to tell the girls to go to their rooms or keep their butts in a chair because one or all the dogs will not shut up and to keep from wiping out the entire damn dog house I have to get on the girls. I am not for debarking any dog but I have had my nights that I would even perform the surgery myself. So a night without barking I was in heaven and now I am looking forward to my next 12 nights of peace and quiet.