Things my dogs barked at while visiting my in-laws

This past weekend, we went on a road trip to visit my in-laws. As you can see, the dogs were thrilled about the prospect of being in the car for five hours.

Two bored dogs: I Still Want More Puppies

They can barely hide their excitement…

Bella has visited my in-laws (and has stayed with them) many a time. Tavish visited them for the first time this past Christmas, and he did great. They’ve also visited him at our house, and he was a big fan. This time, however, he alternated between cool cucumber and barking fool. Allow me to explain…

Things that Tavish barked at this weekend

  • Doorbells
  • Cell phones
  • When the front door opened
  • When the back door opened
  • When the pantry door opened
  • When we put up the baby gate
  • When we took down the baby gate
  • When someone sat a cup down too loudly
  • The motion light turning on
  • The motion light turning off
  • Dogs barking (it was totally the Twilight Bark on Saturday)
  • Dogs not barking
  • Dogs standing nearby
  • Dogs walking by
  • People walking by
  • Cars driving by
  • Trucks driving by
  • People arriving
  • People leaving
  • People riding bikes
  • People not riding bikes
  • People hugging
  • People standing up after sitting on the couch
  • People sitting down on the couch after standing
  • People just sitting on the couch
  • People shifting position on the couch
  • People closing the recliner
  • People opening the recliner
  • People turning off mute on the TV
  • A toddler running (during a brief visit)
  • A toddler not running (ditto)
  • A toddler attempting to play fetch
  • Nothing (or something that we could not hear)

Things that Bella barked at this weekend

  • Tavish barking

Things that I wished I could bark at this weekend

  • Tavish

Things that I did not bark at this weekend

  • Tavish
  • Bella

Things that are still cute in spite of being barking machines

  • Tavish

Things that are cute and not really barking machines

  • Bella

Things I realized this weekend

  • That I have an upper limit to my barking tolerance
  • That we really need to work on teaching Tavish a “be quiet” cue
  • That I’ve been lazy in not teaching that cue sooner
  • That I will be teaching him said cue posthaste

I realize that this list makes it sound like Tavish spent the whole weekend barking. I promise that I’m exaggerating… at least a little bit. He spent a lot of time sleeping on, playing with, licking, snuggling, and being adored by my in-laws too.

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26 thoughts on “Things my dogs barked at while visiting my in-laws

  1. Yes, Gracie will be quite and then give an all points bulletin bark out of the middle of nowhere that will scare you to death. And all because she saw a knat at forty paces. Who knows???
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  2. That is a long list of things he barked at!!! D: But you’re great. I believe I probably have the lowest level of barking tolerance. I jump and usually yell in horrified in surprise if Donna even just bark one time, and that makes whoever in the same room as me jump and look around in horror too. Hahaha! Thank fully Donna doesn’t bark. Not really. Wishing you quick success with the be quiet cue 🙂
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  3. This totally cracked me up, though I’m sure it’s not as funny for you! It’s exactly what it’s like taking Cooper places… the nonstop, earsplitting barking! Like you, I totally have an upper limit, though it’s not actually all that “upper.” It’s pretty “lower.” I’ve been working on teaching a knock-it-off-right-now cue (“enough”), but it’s tough with multiple dogs because they feed off of each other barking so much. Good luck! Let me know if you hit on a solution!
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    • You know, it’s funny… most of these things wouldn’t even catch his attention at our house. I’m happy about that, even if I wish he wasn’t so barky while visiting the in-laws this time.

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