This Better be a Phase

The first few weeks of my retirement, Scout became less obedient, not coming when called, pulling on the leash for every walk, even ran off more than once. I put it down to the fact that I was now around more, and she didn’t feel she had to work as hard to please me. A few remedial lessons using some online training tips, and things got back on track.

Well, I gotta say, someone is showing a wee bit of attitude these days. A few things have cropped up: she takes longer and longer to eat her meals, mostly, I think, because she is waiting for me to have mine to see if it’s any better (and to be fair, it always is). I’ve started adding a scoop of canned food to her kibble, but even then, I often get a “this is it?” look from her as I set the bowl down.

She is also very very needy, constantly coming up and nudging me to play with her. She used to understand that sitting at the desk meant I was unavailable, but now she is constantly nudging me, or scratching the desk, or knocking the fridge (that means she wants treats), or scratching to get out. In that last case, she has more than once then run next door when I wasn’t looking.

Compared to dogs in much of the rest of the world, she has a very good life. But from time to time I get twinges of guilt that I’m not playing with her enough. Then I remember an article I read a few years ago in which it was pointed out that the average European dog owner thinks North Americans are nuts for how much they spend on toys for their dogs, and playing with them, and dreaming up ways for the dog to be stimulated and entertained. And then my guilt mostly passes and I remind myself, she’s just a dog.

But this neediness has moved into a bit of defiance, as evidenced by last evening’s little trick. After asking to go out for the third time, instead of ‘doing her business’ and returning, she walked out the door, down the steps, onto the lawn, turned around, lay down and just looked at me.

Edit: And as I am writing this, she just barked (she never barks). When I turned to see what she was barking at, she was just sitting, in the middle of the living room, looking at me. So pushing her luck.