Brea had a rough day. For no apparent reason, she wanted to hide, and whenever I came near her she began shaking all over. The only time any of my other dogs did that was during a thunderstorm or fireworks. I didn't know how to help her, and I felt a little guilty for cornering her and putting on her harness and leash and making her go outside, but she's been housebroken so far and I didn't want to lose that. She had a long night inside by herself while I was at work.
I decided that even if she didn't want to follow me around the house, but preferred to hide and be left alone, she was going to have to at least be downstairs when I was downstairs, and upstairs only when I was upstairs. I put the baby gate up so that it blocked her from going all the way upstairs. She's going to have to be where she can see and hear me, even if we aren't interacting any more than that.
I'm trying to establish some routines here, like going outside for short walks and potty breaks, but she wasn't interested, and she couldn't be bribed with dog treats.
Later in the afternoon, at Kroger, I decided to go all out and try something really, really good:
That got her attention, and she went outside without any problem and actually followed me around the house for a little while, eventually lying down at my feet under the computer table.
So who's manipulating who in this scenario?
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