I don’t have the patience I did when I was raising kids. Of course I never had a 70 lb 2 year old either and even if I had, if I’d yelled at them in the voice I seem to be using constantly these days, they’d have been somewhat intimidated. In fact, I never had to use this kind of voice with them. But hey, I went from days of never using my voice at all to using it all bloody day long, maybe that’s good for me. It doesn’t feel good though, I’m a live and let live type person, I’ve never had the habit of having to bitch all day long at anyone. Enter Karma, funny I picked that name for him, I guess he’s my bad Karma. I sure spend all day every day telling him he is. Positive reinforcement only goes so far, how do you teach a dog he’s good when he’s not barking, chewing, jumping and the million other things he manages to do all day long that totally annoy me? Some days I put him back in his crate all day, some days he’s in and out 3 times an hour because he just refuses to follow my rules. He understands them just fine but in his exuberance he just can’t seem to help himself. If I wasn’t such a recluse he’d be gone already, but I barely manage to call my therapist or doctor to make an appointment, so it’s no surprise I haven’t called animal control about returning my dog. Plus I like him, if he’d just learn to chill out and mind me, I hate the idea of taking him back there. I’m just so tired of bitching and fighting with him every single day, all day long. Well, got to go, he’s destroying my rug again….