Oh, if any animal-lovers were planning to watch last night's L&O:SVU -- don't. Seriously. It was the first time I've ever had to turn off an SVU episode because I just couldn't handle watching it.

I've never heard of a Newf doing that.

It was the most bizarre thing-- we'd had the puppy since it was eight weeks old, it was from a reputable breeder, it was only left alone for very limited time periods (an hour or so), we did training, the whole nine yards. Dog just never took to Lewis, for whatever reason (and Lewis still has the scars to prove it). Nearly thirteen years later and I still feel as if I failed somehow, but I know that ultimately, giving the dog back to the breeder was the best thing.

Sparky, your DH has heard me say it before, the more relaxed we can be about a dog 'talking' the less they will talk. And the more relaxed about barking we become, the less we care about the barking that doesn't stop!

I used to get very uptight about Bartleby 'bothering' other people. Now, I focus on making sure he is well behaved and I let people have their reactions without adding to their agita with my own.

The bark stops here, so to speak.

Hahahaha!

Look, buy two and save! [link]

Our two bark a bit when a dog walks by the house, but other than that are pretty chill. Oh, and Layla barks when the doorbell rings. Or when a doorbell rings on television, which is hilarious. No barking on walks, thank goodness. I never grew up with dogs and don't like a lot of barking. We draw pretty strict rules about the bark thing, but a huge part of it is how talky a dog naturally is so we are lucky.

We have Fenris inside at night and usually bring him inside if he really gets going with the barking. Of course if there is a squirrel around, it can be pretty hard to get him to come inside. He's all, you don't understand there is a SQUIRREL IN. OUR. TREE.

I love Australian Shepherds as much as the next guy, but getting them because they are cute and then being put off because they have more energy than you can ever expend without taking them to a herding ring...and the fact that, frankly, they are smarter than most of their people...well...that just ain't right to me.

Hee. Our Australian Shepherd mix is almost certainly smarter than us. You can see the wheels turning in his head all the time. And he has lots of energy. Which is why he loved summer camp; literally thousands of kids also with excess energy to burn. But when it's just D. & I we sometimes joke about getting him a couple of sheep. The sheep would be miserable, what with being moved all the time, but the Biscuit would be happy.

Sass barks at all the usual times - someone at the door, someone walking a dog by the house. But she always barks at kids, something about their size and/or speed, and that's what really stresses my DH out.

Ohhhhhh, talky animals. My cat, Damien, is the most conversation-intensive cat I have ever had. As in, he was standing on my pillow and meowing at me last night as I was trying to sleep. He didn't want to cuddle, he had fresh food and water and litter, he just wanted to talk. I have kicked men out of my bed for less.