Our nightly ritual at the house for bedtime is that I usually go to bed first. The dogs get their late evening "snack", then upstairs we go. Cosby the young-un sleeps in his crate up there, and will run directly into it. Everee and Eli each have their own beds on the floor in our room. The problem was when it was time to go up Everee would race up ahead of all of us, barking the whole time, get into the room and continue to bark, and then "herd" Eli into his side of the room (and sometimes not so nice). Eli got so he would go into our room through our bathroom. I tried squirting her with water, but this only worked once I was up there. She still ran up like a crazy dog barking and amping up. I went ahead of the boys, so I came up behind her - she still was barking like a crazy dog. This went on, like I said for two years! So last week I decided to try one more thing. The bottom of our stairs is gates (yes the 16 month basset boy still tries to sneak up!), so when we get to the gate I backed her up (body talk) and told her to wait. I went up the stairs FIRST. When I got nearly to the top I release her and although she races up, there is NO BARKING! She goes into the room with a much lower energy level and is not bothering Eli, but rather learning to sit on her bed first, because whoever gets to their bed first gets the little piece of cookie I have first. (everyone does get one, no worries!). This new approach is clearly telling her I am in control. I'm using my obedience like I tell everyone to do (daah, took me long enough!) and I'm "allowing" her to come up instead of her barging up. It's working! I am much happier (as is Eli!) that we can now go upstairs like normal folks...no screaming! So, moral of the story is don't forget to use your obedience when things like this come up! As I always tell folks, be proactive instead of reactive. Clearly, with my first tries I was being reactive. Proactive always wins!
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