Discipline and longing

Some disobedience is self-regulating. We don't want dogs in the kitchen when we make food, for natural reasons, and this is something Goshen has no problem with whatsoever. She just goes to her bed and rests. Barak, on the other hand, who is not even used to living indoors with a family, is very interested in what is going on in the kitchen, and very persistent about it. We have a long and narrow kitchen with the entrance door in one short end, and just by the door we have the fridge, positioned in a way that when opening the door, it blocks the entrance to the kitchen. Barak knows that he should stay at least outside the kitchen opening, but the discussion is never-ending. He tries to enter the kitchen all the time and when we open the fridge door he has to back away. The other day he really tried to stick his head past the fridge door with the consequence that he suddenly found himself with the head stuck between the fridge door and the other wall. The moment of terror of being stuck was stronger than the actual impact of the door, so without any damage done, he is now backing up rapidly when we open the fridge door. Let us see how long it will last.

I think he ate a sock this morning. It was one of the socks I wore yesterday, and I had them beside my bed during the night. This morning Yoram was up early and then the dogs come to life and run around. Goshen almost never go in to the bedroom, while Barak still tries to claim all rooms. I tried to sleep but got several wake-up calls from a big spongy Shepherd's nose (and tongue) and at that time he must have snatched one of the socks. When I got up I could not find it anywhere and I also cleaned the house today without finding any sock. Either it comes out the natural way (hopefully), or we get a case of digestive system blocking that demands surgery... *sigh*

I have started to notice that Barak can be quite a challenge for Goshen sometimes, and although she efficiently tells him off most of the time, he is after all much stronger than her and very persistent. Today he was bugging her a lot at one point which led to a small fight. I pulled him off and put him to the ground to show him that this was not acceptable behaviour. I could see than Goshen was a bit intimidated by the event, so from now on she will receive more support from us humans. I am against messing too much with the dogs social life since I believe that human interventions sometimes cause more trouble than assistance, but in this case I can see that my tolerance level needs to be adjusted.

We have a child-free weekend with a 6-hours aikido marathon here in Tivon on Saturday, so I look forward to some nice quality time with my man and my dogs, which is well needed.

Today I received a package that was sent from my parents, with some things I needed from Sweden. When I saw my Mums handwriting I got a emotional. I miss my parents most of all and occasionally it comes over me like a storm and this was such a moment. We have always been used to having each other close and spending much time together, so this is the longest stretch without them ever. I comfort myself with my newly bought tickets for my Sweden trip in February. I will be there from the 1st of February until the last and I could not care less that it will be during the worst part of the winter, because I really need to see my loved ones.