Essays Contents
Bad Little Puppy
January 3, 2023
Imagine what it is like to be a little animal...
surrounded by very tall animals (meaning humans)...
and not being able to understand anything said to you...
not knowing what is going on...
or what you are supposed to... do.
"Why am I here... in this place... to do... what?"
My story is about a little dog that barked all the time...
but as I researched for just... that perfect picture
that allowed a person to visualize this little dog...
something else got my attention.
And so... now there are two things I'm going to mention.
Since I couldn't find a good picture... in a normal image search...
I watched some videos of small dogs barking.
I could find the right puppy and take a screen shot of it.
So... I watched a few of these videos
that people have taken of their dogs
barking at this or that...
and I saw it...
something that I did not like at all...
that I have NEVER liked... at all...
I saw people laughing at the confusion of "an innocent."
Nor do I like "practical jokes."
These just seem to me... to be a form of bullying.
"Grown ups" do this... as well as naughty kids...
and think it entertaining to tease and joke...
with their animals and with their kids... at their innocence.
If only people kept their kids constantly at their sides...
like some people do with their partner dogs...
maybe kids could get the training that they need, as well...
training in a way that is not shame or ridicule.
In these videos of "cute puppies"...
one such "cute little puppy" had been put in front of a mirror.
The "owner" woman... giggled at the confusion going on...
as the puppy barked... not knowing what this was that it was seeing.
Then, the woman spoke long sentences to the puppy...
"That's your reflection in the mirror"...
Definitely NOT puppy language.
I wanted for her to help this frightened puppy...
by getting next to it... pointing to the mirror...
then pointing to the puppy... and saying...
"that's my puppy! That's YOU... see it"
Then, she could have put something else in the mirror...
just to demonstrate another thing that could appear there
if you put that thing in front of that mirror.
And really... maybe this is all one subject... after all... which is...
people do not help their pets learn about their world.
Well... I found a picture.
There it is... somewhat similar to the puppy
that is the subject of this essay.
In my video search I came across many dog videos.
Many of these videos... about barking dogs...
offered to help train your dog to stop its incessant barking.
I could see that there are some breeds worse than others.
But... this little dog is not the first dog that I've witnessed barking.
I once stayed at a friend's house... to house/dog watch
while they went on vacation for a week.
Their dogs... two shepherd/Australian type breeds...
very smart and well-trained dogs...
had been blamed by the neighbors... of bad barking.
And so, in the evenings when we... two dogs and I...
sat outside to watch lightening bugs...
they behaved so well, and enjoyed the wonder of it, too.
No barking going on here.
And then... what happens... but the two dogs next door
were let out of the house.
Not a minute passed before these dogs began barking.
There was a wooden fence between the yards
and I was chit-chatting with my friends' dogs
and so, I figured that... these dogs must have thought...
that it was their job to declare their objections.
Then... my friends' dogs began barking right back...
and I wondered if my dogs were telling them to shut up...
because we had been enjoying a quiet evening in OUR OWN yard.
And there they all were... four dogs going at it... with much noise.
I discovered that we could not go in our own back yard
when those two dogs were outside in their own yard
because those dogs would bark... and bark... and not stop.
I soon realized that their owner was not going to respond to this.
When the owners did not respond to this nuisance barking
I decided that... I would take this on myself... and I would respond.
I was going to train those dang dogs...
about... what is okay to bark about...
and what is NOT okay to bark about.
A squirrel ran along the back fence... to tease the dogs...
and sure enough... they escalated their barking.
I spoke up...
"There's a little squirrel...! hey there, squirrel...!"
Then I talked directly through the fence to the dogs...
"I like those silly little squirrels. They're cute!"
Maybe they would take the offer of friendship I gave them.
I did the same with birds... trucks... sirens... my dogs...
in the same way that Annie Sullivan approached Helen Keller.
Maybe, just maybe... something would connect with the dogs.
Maybe they would understand... one word... then two...
and connect what it was I was trying to teach them...
about the world that they are living in.
I gave them a few saltine crackers, and said, "Good dogs!"
I celebrated the moments that they stopped barking...
I was the happiest person... they were my friends...
I just loved them, now.
No one had bothered to teach them anything.
I'm not a dog trainer... total amateur at it...
but I gave it a try... and learned something myself...
I learned that dogs are bred... to be a friend to humans.
What humans think of them... means something important.
And so... we now come to the "bad little puppy" story.
In our neighborhood, the houses are fairly close to each other.
When a neighbor moved in next door... they brought a small dog.
There is another medium-sized dog, too...
but THAT dog is wise... and will only bark at strange events.
When I'm outside... and I hear that dog... I know to look for something.
But... the little dog... another story altogether.
All day... and all night... all week... all seasons...
when that little dog is outside... it is constantly barking.
After some time... and some disturbed nights without sleep...
I approached the neighbor... saying that it was really a nuisance.
The response that I got was...
"it is a high energy kind of dog... they do that."
And I responded... "It is a nuisance... whatever your reason."
And so... I waited to see if any effort would be made...
I waited to see if any attempt to quiet the dog was tried.
Anything? Not that I could tell... no corrections that I could hear.
Since I had explained already that this was bothersome...
and now... that it wasn't being corrected...
I considered this an opening for ME to attempt to correct it.
If the neighbor didn't like me doing this... oh, well.
I began a "too much noise" routine.
If that little dog barked for any length of time...
and not at anything specific or meaningful...
I would go outside and say,
"Hey you... puppy. Hey puppy. Too much noise!"
And I'd stand there... and every time it barked... I repeated it.
"Hey puppy! Too much noise!"
If the bigger dog barked... I'd say... "what's going on?"
and pause... and look around... maybe saying something...
like... "what's that?"... "oh, that's okay"... or "ah ha, I see that."
"Thank you, big dog! Big dog is a good dog!"
After some weeks of "Hey puppy, too much noise!"
I was not having much success on getting that puppy to be quiet.
The weather was more pleasant
and I was beginning to do yard work... and you guessed it...
nothing all the day long but the barking of the little dog.
I decided to really say it... which I hadn't wanted to say before...
"Little puppy is a BAD dog. Little puppy is a VERY BAD dog."
I barked like a dog right back at that puppy... "ruff ruff ruff ruff ruff."
"Bad little puppy... bad little puppy!!"
There was a pause in the barking... maybe 3 minutes of silence.
Then... the little dog barked back at me... in more of a rhythm...
I could almost imagine what it was saying to me...
"I'm not... a bad little puppy. I'm not a bad little puppy."
And I said something right back... as if I had known what it said...
I said, "Oh, yes, you ARE a bad little puppy. Too... much... noise."
For the rest of the day... the puppy barked much less...
and every time it barked, I said "too much noise... bad puppy."
That was the last day...
that the little dog ever barked longer than 5 seconds.
