We've known for a while that our dog is a window watcher. It's common to see her nose and eyes peering down at us from the window on our upstairs landing whenever we leave the house. Unfortunately, neighbors have also reported that they not only see her up there, they hear her barking, too.
One of the many things I admire about Heidi is her attitude toward behavior. She doesn't get mad; she does her research, and then she gets serious. When presented with a problem like that, she'll have several possible solutions in an hour and then she will work on it until it is solved.
It's been that way the whole month we've been in Minnesota. Lucy has been pretty good about new situations, but not perfect. There have been barking and jumping issues. She's a good dog, but she has had to work hard to understand the dynamics and expectations of a lot of new places. My mom's condo building was especially challenging-- how much of that enormous inside space did she have to protect? We figured that to her, all of the apartment doors seemed like other rooms in a reallllllly big house. It must have been overwhelming to try to figure out what was a threat and what was not.
She did spend a little time on the fourth floor balcony there, and Heidi used the clicker to teach her that it was okay for people to go about their business in the parking lot below. Even so, we caught her standing up a few times to look out the windows, a low growl rumbling in her chest.
Here in Rochester, the set up is a little closer to ours. The house-style building has 8 units, all with their own outside entrance. From our third floor condo, we walk down a couple flights of weather-proof steps to get to the street. On the way, we pass a couple of doors and windows.
The doors are familiar to Lucy-- she knows and understands them from our complex, but the windows throw her off a bit. She is used to looking out, so we hope our neighbors can ignore it when a big red nose presses against their bedroom window!
One of the many things I admire about Heidi is her attitude toward behavior. She doesn't get mad; she does her research, and then she gets serious. When presented with a problem like that, she'll have several possible solutions in an hour and then she will work on it until it is solved.
It's been that way the whole month we've been in Minnesota. Lucy has been pretty good about new situations, but not perfect. There have been barking and jumping issues. She's a good dog, but she has had to work hard to understand the dynamics and expectations of a lot of new places. My mom's condo building was especially challenging-- how much of that enormous inside space did she have to protect? We figured that to her, all of the apartment doors seemed like other rooms in a reallllllly big house. It must have been overwhelming to try to figure out what was a threat and what was not.
She did spend a little time on the fourth floor balcony there, and Heidi used the clicker to teach her that it was okay for people to go about their business in the parking lot below. Even so, we caught her standing up a few times to look out the windows, a low growl rumbling in her chest.
Here in Rochester, the set up is a little closer to ours. The house-style building has 8 units, all with their own outside entrance. From our third floor condo, we walk down a couple flights of weather-proof steps to get to the street. On the way, we pass a couple of doors and windows.
The doors are familiar to Lucy-- she knows and understands them from our complex, but the windows throw her off a bit. She is used to looking out, so we hope our neighbors can ignore it when a big red nose presses against their bedroom window!
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