So, anybody ever have a dog who barks in your face or taunts you by punching you in the chest with both feet? How about nipping and tearing off into the hallway, hoping you'll chase them all over the house? Any just-for-fun shoe stealers out there? Read on...

Your dog's trying to tell you something. Now, what ever could that message be? Here's your answer:

Give me attention. Immediately. Do it now, or else I will use every weapon in my arsenal to get you to comply.

Some variations on this theme:
Let's rumble.

Come chase me already. Last time I grabbed this shoe, you ran after me for a whole 5 minutes and
it was one of the best things that ever happened to me.

Come over here and give me one of those massages again.

Give me whatever you're eating right now.

I really want to go outside and stalk that bug.

To get your attention, dogs will poke, stare, scratch your leg, pull at the hem of your pants, run around in circles, jump, punch, cry, pound on the door, etc. Anybody with kids knows what this is. Whatever method works is what will be used. And if that doesn't work, another one will be invented.

So, how to stop this ridiculously backwards cycle? Simple- don't give the dog any attention for being annoying. If she jumps on you, don't even look at her. If he claws your leg, he doesn't exist. In Sophie's case, she figured out that a good pouncing will get you to respond. If that doesn't work, she'll kick you with her back legs. And after that one, she's got at least 10 more. We figured out after writing a list of her tools to get attention, that maybe 3 of them were not so annoying. Poking is kind of cute, we can handle that. And staring is fine with us. Sitting and waiting would be grand.

Here's the next task; to train ourselves as humans to be aware of these less obvious signals and consciously reward them with attention. If she chooses to use the right signals and we ignore them, we're training her to use other, naughty ones. BE AWARE OF THE PLEASANT SIGNALS! REWARD THOSE!

A very important side bar: there is something called the extinction burst. This happens when a proven method of doing something that brings a desired response (i.e. stealing underwear always elicits a chase from a human), all of a sudden stops working. The extinction burst is the part where the dog tries the proven method again and again, and hundred times stronger before they figure out that it just doesn't work anymore. Human equivalent: you're at the elevator. You pressed the button 10 seconds ago. This has always made the elevator come and pick you up. For some reason, there's no sign that the elevator's coming. You press it again. And again, and again and again, harder and harder, with more force (extinction burst!), until finally you just give up and use the stairs. The same process happens with Sophie and any other dog that ever lived. If it doesn't work anymore, there's no reason to use it!