The problems with our new dog Shakey

We live in a street that is inhabited by many dogs. Nearly every neighbour, near and far, has a pooch.

Most of these animals are quiet. Full credit to their owners. But we have the honour of having a couple that do let their presence be known with some barking. I have posted before about not so nice dogs and their owners. (click here)

There is that one next door that according to its owner does not bark. (Chuckle) This non barking continues to this day.  It barks often during the day when no-one is home seemingly because it is totally bored. All that non barking, or more accurately yapping, is its way of being noticed. So what could we do?

We decided that maybe we were doing something wrong. That maybe we were out of step. So the plan was hatched to get a dog. On a recent trip into the country we saw a dog for sale and could not resist.

 

Since then we have been attempting to train our new pet, Shakey, to be a well-behaved dog. For some reason it spends most of its time barking at our back door. Not sure what that is all about. But I guess it will stop this annoying habit one day.

 

There are numerous bad habits that Shakey quickly developed . For instance Shakey seems to take great pleasure at running to the neighbour’s fence, the one with the dog that ‘does not’ bark! Shakey then spends quite a bit of the day barking at the neighbour’s dog (which yelps and yelps!.)  We wonder if this is upsetting for the neighbour?  We are not sure. But alas I guess there is not much we can do as that’s the way of dogs I suppose.

 

We even tried taking Shakey for a drive to distract it and to be friendly. But alas Shakey demands to be able to shove his head out the window and bark at other people. Not sure if there is much we can do about that as we are too busy concentrating on driving to try to distract Shakey.

 

For some reason, Shakey keeps attacking one of our neighbour’s gates and getting in and then chasing their pets. We have suggested that maybe they should lock up their pets more securely. But our helpful advice has not been taken. So almost once a day Shakey has a go at breaking through their flimsy gate. Surely they should do something about their gate!

 

Shakey has taken to surprising people walking down the street.  He hides behind a neighbour’s letter-box and when people pass, out he runs barking and trying to play. Some people seem not to understand and get quite irritated. Can’t they see that Shakey is just a playful dog? Surely they could learn to understand our dog much more!

 

We now take Shakey for walks at night-time as some in the neighbourhood always look at us very strangely during the day. We are not sure what that is all about. Surely people should be more accepting of Shakey. He is just a dog after all!

 

In the end we are working to get Shakey settled in our yard. He spends most nights out there wandering around getting to know the neighbourhood. I hope others will get used to his presence. He is such a friendly dog after all!

At last we now feel that we fit in with the neighbourhood! Thanks to Shakey!

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Paul Costigan, 17 June 2014