Split, Don’t Lump

For years, my solution to door-time chaos was to ask both to SIT, which in our house also means be quiet. Once I got that for a few seconds, I opened the door with a WAIT. Only when they defaulted to WATCH ME, would I release them to go out. It didn’t really solve the pre-door noise and scrambling, but it got them to be quiet to earn an open door.

Well, the new rule from our behavior modification plan says that they have to be quiet on approach to the door. If they aren’t, I turn my back for 15-30 seconds before letting them try again.

At first, Lilly got the idea much faster than Ginko. She learned to zip-it after 2-3 tries to his 5-10.

Lately, however, he seems much keener on the uptake than she does. She’s now using all manner of noises (but not barking). She grunts. She squeals. She breathes really, really loudly.

Maybe it’s my fault for working on the bark first, and ignoring the spinning and scrabbling on that goes with it. I figured that I’d deal with body motion separately from the noise. And, for now, I’m sticking with that strategy.

I can get a quiet door approach from EACH separately without too much brain (or hearing) damage, but together, is another story. And, the rule is EVERYONE is quiet, so Ginko often gets screwed, and I’m sure he is completely confused when he can’t go out.

Then, again, maybe it’s really even … since he’s also scoring at least half of the food-stuffed toys in the evenings used to prevent Lilly from hiding at night. He has no idea why nighttime is so much fun now, but he totally GETS that. Lately, if I forget to put the toys out, he follows me around with his big smiling face to help me remember.

He typically doesn’t bug me the way Lilly does, so it took me a while at first to realize why I was suddenly so popular. Lilly may still be hiding at times, but Ginko totally understands that evenings now mean food toys.