Language Barrier

Poor Kozmo.  I expect him to know at least 50 words in English. Last night I realized I don’t even know one word in Dog.  It was a typical Monday evening, trying to cram many things into a few hours. After a last minute trip to the grocery store, Kozmo’s walk was off the table as I started cooking dinner. Just as we were ready to eat Kozmo started to get antsy. He knows he doesn’t get his dinner until after his humans eat. I assumed he was upset we were having a late dinner.

Finally Sir Kozmo was served his dinner and the dishes were done. I sat down on the couch exhausted.  Koz started whining and prancing and pacing from door to door. He had been out. He had been fed. What on earth was he telling me? I looked outside. I imagined a skunk or the neighbors dogs barking or maybe even Kozmo could hear the robin’s nest on the front porch.

I kept pleading with Kozmo to please calm down and lay down. He refused. His whining got louder and he started to bark. He was clearly stressed. He’s never behaved like this before. As soon as he went out on his run he barked. Not understanding the language of Dog I started to imagine all sorts of things lurking in the dark.

After an hour or so of this I decided maybe if I went to bed Kozmo would settle down and relax.  Just as I crawled into bed his barking became more insistent.  I know I shouldn’t get up when he barks. I couldn’t listen to my poor puppy be so stressed. I got up and went downstairs. I tried to calm him down. I got him to lie down on his chair for about 10 minutes.

Not wanting to reward his manic behavior, but wanting sleep even more, I took a frozen Kong out of the freezer and lay down on the couch. Just as I was entering a sound sleep Kozmo finished his Kong and went right back to barking, whining, and pacing. Now he was jumping up at the windows.  Nothing I said could break his almost state of panic.

Finally I decided to face whatever was lurking in the dark and take him outside. I put Kozmo on his run and he stopped at the bottom of the stairs. Suddenly the light bulb went off.  The line for Kozmo’s run was caught in the door and he was unable to move off the stairs. He had no way to get to the grass to do his business. I got his line untangled and he ran right to his spot to take care of business.

I felt like the worst dog mom ever. My poor pup spent the past 4 hours telling me his line was stuck and he had to go potty. I didn’t get what he was saying. Within 2 minutes Kozmo did his thing, came back inside, and went right to bed. I didn’t hear another peep out of him even though I couldn’t fall asleep. How can I expect him to listen to all of my human words when I don’t even know what one bark means?

We will continue to work on this language barrier.