Behaviour

Spring is in the air. I can tell because we have some naughty behaviour developing and this May the hounds will have been with us for 2 yrs, so their paws are well and truly under the table.

This morning, before Breakfast I found my copy of Wind in the Willows that I have had since a child (and that was long ago!) shredded to bits on one bed, and a notepad shredded on the other.
Not knowing which hound did it though means discipline is difficult, and once the event has been done, too late for any telling off! Yesterday they had a leather diary (this year's!)

I tried a 'Who did this?' low voice and Dizzy looked guilty but Lily just flew around the room at top speed spinningn and barking and snapping at the air like a maniac. This means "I am happy, and in the mood for a game, and I am going to be very naughty and see if I get away with it"

I got them together by breakfast, and the atmosphere was calm. Eerily quiet it was even for an after breakfast mood so I had a look to see what was going on, and there was Dizzy on the sofa in the best sun patch in the house. He knows he is only allowed up on 'Daddy's' sofa if he is being very good and he has to be invited. We don't have hounds on furniture without the pack leader's invitation, if they go up there by choice we found it leads to them snapping or getting a bit above themselves if we want to sit down too. So, invitation only and he had NOT been invited.

I asked him off, which he did, then turned my back and he was up. This happened three times.
We decided the dogs are being spoilt with extra sofa and food, and instead of making them happy and loyal it is making them naughty and challenging.

You should see Lily on a Saturday night she barks at the door and the window and us, before we have ordered our Chinese or Indian takeaway...she decides when it should be here and is most disgruntled if we have not picked up the phone. Once ordered, and she knows whenn we have (more to do with the leaflet we are holding which must smell of food) she parks herself at the front door and gets positively over confident and pushy once those takeaway bags get deposited on the table. Then she whines the whole evening for a prawn cracker and pretends she needs a wee, just to see if she gets rewarded by a cracker. We have to tie up the leftovers and treble wrap them and put in the bin outside, but the smell wafting through the window often triggers a hound to do rising and falling siren type whines.

So, we have to stop all these little extras for a while, feed them just twice a day and not give them leftovers and too many treats and be a bit strict about beds and furniture. Shame, cos we do love it when they are happy but there seems to be a limit and going over that means a dog doesn't know where she stands.