What could make a boy behave this way?

Operation Spike The Guns continues. I have a catproof screwtop jar full of treats on my desktop and intermittently reward both dogs for alerting out of the window without barking. Results are looking promising; there are still times when Spike can't stop himself, but the frequency of fire has gone right down, and I have witnessed him on several occasions visibly stopping himself with an effort. He gets big treats for that.

There's another unforeseen side effect, though. Squish is, on the whole, less intelligent than Spike; but he makes up for it with a broad streak of Slytherin cunning and he's also much more food motivated. And he has taken to inventing false alerts out of the window and ostentatiously not-barking at them. I love the little spotted sod.

What could make a boy behave this way?

Operation Spike The Guns continues. I have a catproof screwtop jar full of treats on my desktop and intermittently reward both dogs for alerting out of the window without barking. Results are looking promising; there are still times when Spike can't stop himself, but the frequency of fire has gone right down, and I have witnessed him on several occasions visibly stopping himself with an effort. He gets big treats for that.

There's another unforeseen side effect, though. Squish is, on the whole, less intelligent than Spike; but he makes up for it with a broad streak of Slytherin cunning and he's also much more food motivated. And he has taken to inventing false alerts out of the window and ostentatiously not-barking at them. I love the little spotted sod.