In Which We Train the Dog

Well, Phoenix is a year old now, and I see signs of puppyhood ending and the dreaded adolescent stage might be upon us. She's testing us to see who's really in charge around here (and as I noted in our last post...it's up for grabs!). On Saturday, I was trying to chat with Layla, and Phoe (pronounced "Fee") kept playfully biting Layla on the neck trying to keep her from visiting with me. Apparently, it's a way of showing dominance, so I just grabbed Phoe on the underside of her throat (the way a momma dog does when her babies get unruly) and laid her out on the ground, told her firmly, "No." She wiggled a bit and then laid still, so I let her up. The next time she went to jump on Layla while I was petting her, I just said, "No!" and she jumped over next to me. Some days it works and some days...not so much. Anyway, now that our lives may be slowing down a bit (we may be getting a new pastor in a month or so!!), I hope to spend more time training Phoe. Layla, well, Layla's the best dog ever, and Bounce and I came to an agreement that she was OUR dog. Phoenix is mine, and the family has privileges, but Layla belongs to Bounce and me. Since we'll be putting our house up for sale in a couple of weeks, I need to get Phoenix prepared to live around people more so than what she is, so that'll be a big job. She's a great dog, but she'll occasionally try to eat the Fed-Ex man, so we'll have to work on that!
Saturday, we were working outside, and Bounce had something in his hand, and he's at just the right height to entice Phoenix accidentally. She was very interested in whatever it was, and he knows to turn away from her, but she's pretty persistant. I told Bounce, "Tell her 'Leave it.'
Obediently, Bounce said, "Phoenix, leave it." He said it in such a sweet way that I didn't think she was going to take him seriously, so I said, "Tell her firmly."
He tossed over his shoulder, "Fernly!"
I love that kid!