Well, I should have started this venture 3 years ago, when my neighbors first brought home the puppy...and now I'm really kicking myself for not setting up a webcam.
I knew immediately that this irritant, a Schnoodle of all things, a genetic barker from the roots, whose name is appropriately Harley (no offense to anyone who rides one), was going to be a problem, mainly for me, because he was already running aimlessly around the yard barking like a psycho at nearly everything that moved or didn't move...and they thought he was cute. The biggest clue of what was to come, however, was that I know my neighbors well enough to know they have no clue about training a dog. Apparently they think (if they think) that dogs are genetically programmed to know how to be model citizens... I mean, the wife was completely baffled as to why the dog kept going to the bathroom in the house...
Anyway, when they first brought the puppy home I attempted to befriended him with treats, petting and play with the hopes that he wouldn't bark at me, but as soon as I would leave their yard or walk away from the fence he would start barking, a continuous, and nerve frazzling rahrahrahrahrahrah...
I'm not a "dog person" but I understand the basic concepts of dog training, and I would only give him a treat/attention when he was quiet. But eventually I realized that when my foolish neighbors were in the yard they would get him to shut up by giving him treats, etc., and that when in the house they would also try to make him behave by distracting him with treats/toys, and so this was undermining my efforts to teach him not bark at me. They were enforcing the undesired behaviors by "rewarding" him when he was bad.
In disgust, I soon quit paying any attention to the little yapper. It made no difference, he was going to bark at me whether I was nice to him or not because he was being rewarded for it on the other side of the fence. I could almost feel sorry for the poor little yapper, because his foolish people have inadvertently turned him into such an annoyance that even they hate their own dog and have exiled him to the yard for good, thus causing others to feel extreme ill will toward the innocent but ever-present irritant.
To be continued because this isn't the end of what I have to say about these irresponsible fools who created such an annoyance, and the negative impact it's had on my life.
