For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for March 09, 2024

Put in a doorbell and teach him to use it, instead of barking OR scratching. :P

Actually, Elly is the only person I know who actually wants to teach her dog to bark. Most people want to do the opposite. And are the neighbors going to like it?

IMO, Elly should be arrested on a charge of animal cruelty!

Dogs are great mimics. They learn by example.

Just curious, why does Edgar the pup want to so desperately get in the door?

If those neighbors next door is actually Connie and the mother dog Sera, and if Edgar is loose outside, why doesn’t he just run back to his mom and where he was born?

Let them worry about his scratching and lack of barking. Sera the mother dog should teach him.

We used sleigh bells (or a big jingle bell on a rope) for all our dogs.

We’ve had several dogs over the years. We put in a doggie door and taught them to use it as part of their house training. They go out hen they want, come in when they want.

Why would there be so much scratching noise with a rug on the door.

I still say Elly is being mean!

John is a dentist but one would never know

once the dog barks he will never stop. Its like teaching your child to talk.

I have to admit – our Golden, who almost NEVER barks, does sit outside the door and barks when he wants to come in.

I am confused about the neighbours. It’s Connie on one side and Anne on the other. The silhouettes are kind of generic so I cannot tell which one. In either case, you would think they would be used to odd behaviour from the Pattersons by now.

John is demonstrating his knowledge of “Show and Tell”. ;-p

Or another funny one…

Elly pushes Edgar outside

Elly: Come on, you have to go outside to do, you know…your business.

John: Elly, if you want an animal to do something you should do it first. You know, to show them how.

Elly{glowering}: I am not going to defecate in the yard!

John: Well sorry, Your Majesty!

I’d teach him to howl like a wolf, its more fun

OMG, that is too funny! Reminds me of a true story: I was walking my dog, Arlie (big watchdog) and I saw a big black dog standing up in the end of the road. Puzzled as I didn’t know any black dogs in the neighborhood…I suddenly realize, IT WAS NOT A DOG! I was looking at a bear! So I told Arlie to bark. Zip the lip, mum’s the word. So I thought, I’ll give him the idea…I started barking, while 140 lb Arlie hid behind me! It was then I noticed my neighbor looking out at the street from her kitchen window, pointing and laughing at us! (Me mostly…) From her vantage point, she could not see the bear, just this crazy lady barking and her dog hiding behind her. To Arlie’s credit, I had taught him not to bark at deer and horses, I guess he figured this fit into that category. I kept proceeding towards my house, barking, the bear went into the woods. Much rather meet a bear than a cougar though. Have though, although that’s a story for another day.

Is he trying to teach the dog HOW To bark, or testing the sound dampening effects of the carpet?

Too funny… the neighbors think John and Elle are into some kinky stuff. I have seen dogs using the doorbell, as long as the button is low enough for them to reach.

How about adding a doggie door? (Just need to secure it when you are not home.)

LOVE in the last panel how we see Edgar staring up inquisitively at the barking demo.

I was gonna say, showing him how to bark is gonna be the best way in person. Need a proper team, not passive resistance

The neighbors all prefer the scratching. Your neighbors hat barking dogs.

For the third day in a row, let me point out that she should be training her puppy NOT to bark.

I go outside with my dog – she never is outside without being attached to me. I don’t have a fence. My last dog was taught to go to a certain neighbor’s porch and bark – I did that by standing with her and making pre-barking noises. She picked up the bark and would just bark one time. She did put it to the test once as she got loose unexpectedly when I was dog sitting a pug puppy, and I ended up, trotting after my dog, in the snow, carrying a pug under my arm, and my dog went exactly where she was supposed to go and did bark once. She even hugged the curb. My current dog doesn’t bark, so when I tried to teach her the routine, she just looked at me. She would bark a warning. Once she let out one beagle bay to tell me there was an opossum very nearby. She literally lets out one bark about once a year, and always for a good reason. The first mentioned dog was also a beagle. She used to let out a small bay every time we met someone she knew on a walk, as a greeting, I assume.

This is actually how I trained a kitten to meow to go outside. It worked.

Sneaking up behind John are two men in white coats and carrying a large net…..