Our Own Dog Whisperer

We have had some long standing dog issues that Mike has just lately resolved.  Obviously he is a talented man.  Maybe he is even a dog whisperer.

The first issue he resolved was Buddy's eating habits.  Buddy is the golden retriever who hasn't been feeling well lately.  In fact, he had lost weight between his two recent vet visits and the vet was very concerned.  Well, it turned out that Buddy isn't feeling good and is now on antibiotics.  However, this wasn't necessarily going to resolve the weight issue as Buddy has never been a good eater.  Mike used  dog psychology to handle this problem.  He now feeds Buddy and Mabel at the same time and watches them closely while they eat.  This is because they both are afraid the other one is going to eat their food before they do.  They also want to eat the other's food so Mike has to police the situation.

The second dog issue involves Mike's parents basset hound, Emily, and a Christmas present we gave them several years ago.  In 2013, Mike and I, per Lois's request, gave Frank a doggy door for their sliding glass door that is located five feet from Frank's favorite chair.  Mike installed the door and all three of our dogs went through it but Emily, Frank's dog, refused.  Every time we came for a visit after that we tried to get Emily to go through that doggy door.  She would do so if someone held it open for her but that was the best we could do.  

The other day Mike was sitting on his parent's couch watching his dad get out of his chair to open the sliding glass door to let Emily the dog outside when it occurred to him how to rectify this problem.  Emily doesn't like butting her head against the dog door to open it.  It must be hard for her to push the door out of the way so Mike removed the magnet that holds the door closed.  The door is no longer draft free but it is easier to push open.  It took about three days and some retraining of Mike's parents (particularly Frank) but now they wait for Emily the dog to push open the door and exit or enter the house on her own.  The only drawback to the new arrangement is that some dogs that Frank doesn't want in his house now come in.  But that is for another blog post.  

Emily, the dog,  exiting Frank's house.

Emily, the dog, entering Frank's house.

All of today's photos courtesy of Emily Peterson, my daughter.