Two year old Wire Haired Pointing Griffon Mac has a word or two to say about the vacuum cleaner.
The machine lurks behind a closet door, a closet that also contains other formidable foes such as the ironing board, the broom and, worst of all, the dreaded Dust Buster.
Mac might be in the deepest of REM sleep, or with his snout immersed in his bowl of Royal Canin. Regardless, if someone lays a hand on the doorknob to that particular closet, muskets are raised and the order to “Fire at Will!” can be distantly heard.
Mac immediately lo
oks up and his low-throated growl marks the onslaught of a tirade of barking. The noise he produces is so annoyingly shrill and persistent that the humans caught in its crossfire immediately rethink their plans to clean house.
If the battle lines are drawn and the Eureka Bagless actually emerges from the closet, Mac’s fury escalates into a frenetic and fierce campaign. He snaps at the hose, bites at the wheels, and barks and barks and barks.
This is where most people get frustrated and try to equip their way into a quiet home via the purchase of bark collars, citronella collars, ultrasonic collars and anything else QVC has to offer.
Notice that Mac gets all kinds of attention for barking. It is negative attention, but still. In addition, he perceives that his barking is pretty darn effective. After all, the Eureka was returned to the closet with the sheer force of his noisy outrage, right?
We employed a simpler, and less expensive solution that made sense to Mac, mainly because it gave him the attention he craves. This is the equipment Mac’s owner had:
1. A young enthusiastic helper (she bribed her son).
2. Her voice.
3. Good timing.
Here are the 2 steps she followed:
Step A: The helper, upon prompting from the owner, touched the knob to the enemy closet.
Step B: The owner carefully watched Mac. When Mac began to inhale and form his mouth into a certain bark, she exclaimed “Good dog! Good Mac!” in her highest pitched, most obnoxiously sweet voice.
Mac was so startled that he DIDN’T BARK!
After repeating this little scene successfully a few times, she was able to get the vacuum out of the closet – and back in – while Mac was quiet.
We assumed he needed time to mull over how the Eureka got back into the closet without the aid of his barking, so we took a break. Later, we did a battle re-enactment with the same cheery results.
To the delight of everyone involved, particularly the oft-bribed child, Mac and his owner rehearsed this every day, getting Mac to not bark at all during vacuuming.
Next up, the Dust Buster.
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