A Howl-ellujia Chorus
I have a dog that, while cute, sweet and affectionate, is a little on the dumb side sometimes. When I first moved to my current home, occasionally, when I left the house, I’d hear him inside wailing and crying at my departure. It sounded like someone was cutting off his leg! Other times when I left, he was silent. My roommate would tell me that sometimes the howling would start a few minutes after I’d left. (I can only assume that it took a little while for the enormity of his loss to be realized!)
Lately, though, he’s started the howling/deep mourning thing – even when I’m home. Maybe, he’s just bored, or he’s forgotten I’m home. I don’t know. But I can be downstairs at my desk, and he’ll be upstairs, seemingly content in a pool of sunlight, when suddenly the cries of anguish will start. It is so loud and so continuous, that if I call to him, he can’t hear me, and the wailing goes on and on.
Sometimes, I just wait for him to stop for breath so I can call to him; other times I go upstairs and find him. Either way, as soon as he sees or hears me, he’s his usual, happy Cocker Spaniel self, delighted to see me and hang out together. I know he doesn’t understand what I’m saying, but I always tell him, “I was right here. All you had to do was come and find me. You were never alone, silly dog!”
I’m fairly new to WA, so don’t really know anyone yet, but those who know me at all, will know I find life lessons in just about everything. This is no different. Here at WA, it’s easy to be cruising along with the training and have everything going well, when suddenly a new lesson, a website glitch, or some other obstacle will come up, and suddenly you’re overwhelmed. If you’re like me, you may keep trying to figure out what to do until you’re ready to tear your hair out. Or start wailing like my dog.
Thing is, we don’t have to do that! We have help all over the place, here! Ask a question in the chat or PM somebody who can help you. Put your questions “out there,” and someone – probably several someones – will answer!
Stop howling. Take a deep breath. Get back at it!
Recent Comments
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Good advice. And if you get overwhelmed, just reach out. As to dogs, I have 2 basset hounds. Wanna hear howling? LOL Dogs don't have present sense memory. When they can't see you, it's as if you're gone for good and never coming back. Ours are okay most of the time, but they've done the howl of mourning when we're gone overnight. My daughter said that one would just howl and could not be comforted. It's great with teenagers. At least somebody is happy to see you when you come back. ;)
Great lesson Randi! Sometimes I can waste hours trying to figure something out- got to control that stubborn streak! WA is a wonderful site - use it!