Yes, our darling Juliet learned to bark, thanks to the fun play of our 24 year old son. For the last week, every time someone she loved came in the room, Juliet would bark her head off with happy hellos. This seemed cute the first day or two, but the potential problem was evident. Yesterday we all agreed to completely ignore Juliet when she barked, then approach and praise her when she was silent. It took each one of us (that would be 5 people) to do the ignore trick just one time - and it worked like a charm! This morning the culprit son walked into the room and Juliet wiggled her tail off without a single sound. Oh what a genius pooch we have!
I taught Juliet a new trick yesterday too, "hand". I put my palm open near her, and when Juliet touched her nose to my hand, I said YES! When she tried to mouth my fingers, she got a firm low no. She likes yesses much better! I read that this is a good way to socialize dogs so when someone puts a hand near, they don't shrink away, but go to them with their nose. The article also said this is a good way to initialize "come", as the dog already knows to come to the hand with her nose. So far, Juliet will move about two feet to greet my hand. She is just too too smart!
