ah jeez, I think I may have to have him declared insane
 

I can't believe it.

Last night I put this stupid mutt outside for a bit so he could do his business. It is a routine, hopefully he gets it by now.

Shortly after closing the sliding glass door I hear him barking frantically, almost like something has definitely frightened him.

I turn on the floodlights, see nothing. I grab my flashlight and walk around the yard with him, looking for whatever varmint it is that has caused him to go crazy, nothing.

I guess whatever it is has been scared off. I can understand this. We go back to the door to come back in and he again starts barking like nuts, concentrating on a small corner of the patio, by the door. I shine my light over to see if I am missing something, but there isn't anything there.

Now, I should probably point out that he isn't just barking, he is barking hard enough to make himself choke. Any parents out there can relate to when their baby cries so long and hard that they start choking . . . . same deal.

I bring him in, give him some water, goes to the window, barks a couple times and all is well.

I wish.

This morning I wake up, open the sliding door, he goes outside and immediately starts barking at something in the same corner. What is he barking at you ask?













A pine cone. That's right. Something that he can find plenty of in his side yard, but I guess this is a special pine cone or something. I can't believe it.

Do dogs suffer from dementia?

so let me get this straight, you dont walk your dog?

It could be something he smelled that you couldnt see, a dogs primary sense is smell 200x stronger than ours and thats in regular breeds.

Wow . . . .how did you arrive at that conclusion?

Something on the pine cone? Because this morning, it sure seemed directed at that one object.

Mine gets spooked if something is out of place or something appears where previously there was nothing.

In answer to your question....yes, dogs are nuts. But we love them anyway. :winkwink:

What happened to going to the dog park and checking out the hotties?

we go several times a week . . . and we walk the Hermosa Strand . . . which is on schedule for later today since the dog park has stupid people there on the weekends.

I think dogs have sixth sense they see some thing or someone not visible to human eye... Do you agree?

There's probably something on that pine cone that you can't see.

:2 cents:

Well, I have not picked it up, so I would have to agree . . . . but whatever it is, I doubt it is big enough to warrant insanity.

big enough to warrant a thread, big enough to warrant insanity :2 cents:

might be for you tho, not the dog :1orglaugh

:thumbsup yeah! i agree with you...
that was my first hint...

dude my dog attacks shadows

and during the day when the sunlight peeks thru the blinds and makes a beam of light on the floor... omg she will spend hours trying to 'get' it

I guess I shouldnt have spent so much time teasing her with the laser pointer, but it was fuckin funny watching her chase the red dot all over the house like a cat would do.

Maybe the dog accidently licked some of your blotter acid... :eek2 :stoned

ADG

Gigi likes to steal pine cones from the park, and hide them around the house...

She even hides them from us now on the way home from the park which is pretty amazing in and of itself because she isn't exactly the biggest dog on earth.

Dogs go through weird/funny little phases sometimes. With mine at one point he suddenly became incapable of going up the stairs on day. He'd been running up and down those stairs all his life, and in fact had been on them that very day.... but all of a sudden he seemed unwilling or incapable of going back up.

On his next vist to the vet I had him checked out. No injury, no sore legs, nothing. He was in his prime and as fit as a dog can be. It was just one of those little psychological things they go through sometimes, and it passed.


I'm quite thankful that I took the time early-on in his life to train him into curbing his barking. That was some time well spent on my part.

My last dog never barked unless there was a reason. Can't say the same for this guy. . . . . of course, what I consider a valid reason and what he considers one could vary substantially.

I worked on my dog for the first few years of his life to get him to curtail his barking. I just knew my neighbors would not take kindly to me having a dog who barked his fool head off all the time.

Whenever I'd be playing with him when he was a pup he'd get so excited that he'd eventually start yapping loudly. Whenever he did that I'd stop playing with him immediately. It took a while but he eventually got the idea that he should keep his mouth closed or else playtime is over.

I also muzzled him a few times once he got to be close to fully grown (at around 2 yrs or so). Only for a short time, but he'd be barking in the back yard at someone walking by and I'd go out and stick that muzzle on him for 15 or 20 minutes, and he very soon got the idea that I wanted him quiet.

The times when someone came directly on my property were the times that I not only allowed him to bark but quickly rewarded him for it with a chew snack or something.

He learned eventually. Yours will too I'm sure. You strike me as a pretty responsible dog owner.

He NEVER barks when we are playing, or when he is playing with other dogs.

I think he does it so I will let him inside. I may try duct tape.

ROFL.. sometimes my dogs get bent up on the simplest things. One time one was barking non-stop and when I went to go check, thinking it was a snake, all I found was a dead frond from one of my palm trees. It was barking non-stop at the damn frond like it was going to kill it. I had to go throw it over the fence before she would shut up barking at it.

What a great day, Sunday 8:10am, Pier St. Hermosa Beach, CA.
http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/3927/a1dogov9.jpg

It is Pier Ave, not St. :2 cents:

lol.................

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

Ya, your right.

I'd suggest you start looking into Cesar Milan's teachings, baddog. My dogs rarely bark, and when they do, it's because generally it's something worthy of investigation. What it is mostly about is you as a pack leader letting them know when it is or not acceptable to bark, and them respecting your wishes as such. If dogs in a pack barked frantically all the time the pack would never catch prey... they have their own signals to let each other know when to hush up, and they work for people too, if you're willing to put in the time and effort to learn along with him ;)

That's strange.

My guess is you had a possum or rat in that area. So you blamed it on the pine cone when you couldn't find the varmint.

:1orglaugh

Were there any earthquakes? Dogs and cats go apeshit when there is gonna be an earthquake sometimes... My friends dog would growl and bark when there were gonna be tremors... usually the dog was spot on...

My initial thought was that it was a varmint . . . but the next morning when he starting barking at the side of the house again, and the only thing there was a pine cone (that he later destroyed), I had to presume that was the culprit.

He knows to shut up when I yell at him. As he doesn't bark when we are together it could be a little difficult for me to get it through to him that he can never bark.

var·mint /ˈvɑrmənt/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[vahr-muhnt] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun
1. Chiefly Southern and South Midland U.S.
a. vermin.
b. an objectionable or undesirable animal, usually predatory, as a coyote or bobcat.
2. a despicable, obnoxious, or annoying person.
Also, varment.

just in case...