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Yes, it could be a scary place in there ![Big Grin :D :D](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
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Bucket list item 13, meet Jasper in person.My dog is crazy!![]()
When OH got up to go to bed, Jasper calmly took his biscuit. OH turned off the telly, turned off the switches on the other side of the room, as usual... and then Jasper barked! It's almost like 'Oh yeah, I nearly forgot, I'm meant to bark now'.
I'd still love to know what's going on in his brain, but he's certainly improving, which is the main thing.
I feel that just addressing the apparent triggers is too much of a behaviorist, stimulus/response approach to Jasper -
The root cause is that there's something about OH going to bed that Jasper doesn't like....
Do you think a trigger can be the knowledge/realization that something is going to happen, rather than a specific event?
Would it not depend on what KIND of bark he is making, for example an excited bark, or an aggressive bark?
Would it not depend on what KIND of bark he is making, for example an excited bark, or an aggressive bark?
maybe we do have to focus on the 'process' or OH going to bed rather than worrying too much about what Jasper doesn't like about it.
OH was a bit confused last night. He closed his laptop lid - no reaction. He put his headphones down - no reaction. He sat there a moment - Jasper barked. So if there was a trigger, either it was a delayed reaction,
or Jasper is pretty much telepathic! I've long suspected the latter, anyway.
DS2 suggested that when he gets to the bottom of the stairs, OH flips a coin to determine whether he's going to bed or return to the front room, so when he gets up even he doesn't know what he's doing![]()
The problem with this suggestion.... it doesn't change the association with the trigger, just randomizes when it happens.
Thanks JacksdadI think the laptop is a red herring really - it's just a signal to Jasper that OH is about to go to bed. If he closes the lid earlier in the evening Jasper doesn't react. He also responds to the sound of me taking my glasses off and closing their arms in preparation for bed, but in that case it's a happy response as he likes to go out for his last wee. So the real problem is that he doesn't want OH to go to bed, and he's very tuned in to our behaviours and the sounds we make.
I wonder if part of the problem is that we had been cajoling and bribing him to get him upstairs (as he sleeps better there, which means that we do to). When bribing stopped working, we played a game of hide and seek, 'hiding' his bedttime treat in the bedroom saying 'Find it!' He might be feeling grumpy about bedtime as even though he fell for our ruse, he didn't like the pressure put on him to come upstairs when he was quite happy where he was.
But yes, as you say - regardless of the reason, we need to change his associations with 'Dad going to bed' and the signs that he's going to head upstairs.
Last night, just to be contrary, he did choose to come upstairs when I went up and spend the night with us![]()
solution, get OH to change position in the pack! LOL
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