Phil and Macy

Phil and Macy

Saturday, June 24, 2017

Atlas – teaching the wrong thing on accident


When our 1st son was preschool age we lived out on an acreage. There are very few outdoor lights and when it got dark we always told him to come in. He would've played outside 24/7 if he could. Then one night I forgot  go get it and it was after dark. Dan, our 1st son, ran over and grabbed my leg and said emphatically "don't go out there it's dark". I realized then that we had taught him that it was dangerous to go out after dark. We laughed and told him why we asked him to come in at dark.

Now we are watching Atlas and have watched him since he was a puppy and Tom brought him home. When he was here he would always bark at anything that pulled into our driveway no matter who it was except he wouldn't ever bark at his owner Tom. To combat this we would emphatically tell him "it's Tommy, Tommy's home"! Somehow we got the idea that whenever I said the word Tommy he was supposed to bark. He still barks whenever I try to say that. Sometimes is funny and sometimes I feel silly that I taught him the wrong thing.
Now he is here for a year while Tom is deployed. We are home together during the day and I noticed he rarely barks at much anymore. I started praising him went somebody would come by like the mail person. I would tell him he was a good boy and would say it multiple times. Then yesterday I thought I should tell him he's a good boy even if no one's going by. When I said it to him he immediately jumped up on high alert and looked out the windows to see who was walking by that he was missing. I guess I've taught him that when he's a good boy it's because somebody's going by and he is missing them to bark at. I would say silly dog and silly Phil!

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