Tuesday, April 28, 2009

It Takes Two Squirt Bottles






Two pets doesn’t seem excessive for two adults to have in one house. It wouldn’t have seemed excessive just one short month ago.
As most of you know, Maggiemae came to live with us just a month ago. In that month she has learned some hard rules. She has learned, where she can and cannot sleep and what rooms she can go in and where she can’t. She also has learned who feeds her, who walks her and who plays with her. Those are two different people. She has learned that Fran spoils her and then gets upset with her when she acts spoiled. She learns that Lu gets up early with her in the morning and goes outside with her, Fran does not. In the time she has learned that we are not going to abandon her. I think that was the most difficult lesson for her to learn. Every time we left she thought it was for the last time, she would actually cry like a human when Fran put on his shirt. When we took her to get her spade, she just about lost her mind.
Maggie seemed to give us one thing at a time to deal with regarding her behavior. This week is barking. She has been barking at everything, everyone and nothing. She barks to hear herself bark and that is driving me nuts. So I looked on the computer and it said to get a spray bottle of water and spray her when she barked for nothing. So, Mertie, my cockatiel has a spray bottle that I put Listerine and water mixture in to kill mites. She loses feathers if I don’t spray her on a regular basis. So I emptied out the Listerine water and rinsed the bottle well and put in straight water. Maggie barked and I got out the spray bottle and aimed. Now I am here to tell you that that dog took off one hundred miles an hour. Her little bottom was swaying from side to side and she hid under Fran’s legs while he was sitting at the computer. She didn’t bark again. Then she barked again this afternoon, again I got out the bottle. She stopped barking and went to play with her toys. Well I got on the computer and told Melanie how smart I was, I told company we had and on and on. Well, tonight, Maggie just started barking. She had been pottied, fed, watered, played with etc. I showed her the spray bottle. Did I forget to tell you that I had not even had to spray her with water? Anyway I showed her the bottle. It did not deter her. She barked even louder and on and then I did it. I sprayed her with the water. She looked at me as if to say, “Did you expect me to quit barking because of that?” I got the giggles so bad, I almost lost some body functions. I ended up in a fetal position and Fran says, “Oh this is going to do a lot of good if you laugh when you point that bottle at her” “I am so disappointed. I had to put Maggie out on the porch. That’s what she wanted; just to be outside so she can watch the neighbors. I am not giving up on the spray bottle therapy, but I also know that Maggie is pretty darn smart, or at least she thinks she is. I think this house will be a two spray bottle house from now on.

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