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You guys are awesome, thank you so much for the well wishes and stuff. I HUG YOU LOTS!!!
In return I give you a dog story. See, Nadia has developed this habit of letting me know she wants inside by...well...jumping up and down and literally hurling herself against the sliding glass door. This is not good for either the door or my nerves. So I have instituted a rule. Doggies who sit nicely at the door get let in, doggies who are jumping around trying to break down the door get to wait until they sit nicely.
Now, I thought perhaps I was expecting too much...because Nadia continues to announce her arrival by the slamming method, and every time we go through this, well now I know it's a power struggle, where she will sit long enough for me to get up out of my chair and then start hurling herself against the door again. So I sit back down until she sits and then I get up and rinse, repeat, until eventually she actually sits nicely and gets let in.
Except now I know she is perfectly capable of getting this. Because Spot showed up with her tonight, and, look...Spot is not the smart one of the two. In fact she's a little dim. So there they are leaping around and Nadia is slamming against the door. So I'm waiting them out. And they both sit. I get up to open the door, leaping resumes, so I sit back down. They both sit again. I get up. Spot stays seated. Nadia leaps and hurls. I sit back down. Spot waits patiently. Nadia leaps and hurls for a bit more and then sits back down. I get up. Spot waits patiently. Nadia leaps. Spot turns her head and I swear to god if dogs could talk the look said "WILL YOU CUT IT OUT" and then looks back at me all "LOOK, I'M THE GOOD DOG". And at this point I realize that it's not that Nadia doesn't get what I'm asking of her. It's that she's trying to outstubborn me and get her own way. She did, eventually, sit nicely and wait for me to open the door. However, resentful does not even begin to describe the attitude with which she did.
I am hoping that if I just stay consistently firm about this, she will eventually figure out she can't win and do what it takes to get let in the first time.
In return I give you a dog story. See, Nadia has developed this habit of letting me know she wants inside by...well...jumping up and down and literally hurling herself against the sliding glass door. This is not good for either the door or my nerves. So I have instituted a rule. Doggies who sit nicely at the door get let in, doggies who are jumping around trying to break down the door get to wait until they sit nicely.
Now, I thought perhaps I was expecting too much...because Nadia continues to announce her arrival by the slamming method, and every time we go through this, well now I know it's a power struggle, where she will sit long enough for me to get up out of my chair and then start hurling herself against the door again. So I sit back down until she sits and then I get up and rinse, repeat, until eventually she actually sits nicely and gets let in.
Except now I know she is perfectly capable of getting this. Because Spot showed up with her tonight, and, look...Spot is not the smart one of the two. In fact she's a little dim. So there they are leaping around and Nadia is slamming against the door. So I'm waiting them out. And they both sit. I get up to open the door, leaping resumes, so I sit back down. They both sit again. I get up. Spot stays seated. Nadia leaps and hurls. I sit back down. Spot waits patiently. Nadia leaps and hurls for a bit more and then sits back down. I get up. Spot waits patiently. Nadia leaps. Spot turns her head and I swear to god if dogs could talk the look said "WILL YOU CUT IT OUT" and then looks back at me all "LOOK, I'M THE GOOD DOG". And at this point I realize that it's not that Nadia doesn't get what I'm asking of her. It's that she's trying to outstubborn me and get her own way. She did, eventually, sit nicely and wait for me to open the door. However, resentful does not even begin to describe the attitude with which she did.
I am hoping that if I just stay consistently firm about this, she will eventually figure out she can't win and do what it takes to get let in the first time.