For the past year, my sweetheart of an old dog has started absolutely howling whenever my baby (now 17 months) makes an unhappy noise, including crying and whining. We’ve tried many methods and consulted experts to assist in the dogs behaviour, and are still exploring many options. The problem is now being exasperated as my son is now in daycare. In the evenings, my son is tired and whiney and the dog just howls and howls, even when I separate the two from each other in our small apartment. I live in an apartment in a large city with a housing shortage, so I see the dog howling as a threat to our housing security.

It wasn’t until reading your comment about your father that I put another piece of the puzzle together: as a child, my father would rarely raise his voice and when he did I was absolutely terrified. He would, however, routinely yell at our childhood dog for incessant barking. That yelling would never frighten me in the moment, but I do recall thinking that my father’s reaction was excessive and ineffective.

I will definitely be taking your workshop to help myself through these feelings. I go back to work on October 16th, so am fortunate to have several weeks to work on the after-daycare routine without the stresses of working.

Apologies for using the comment section on this post as my way of working out my own emotions, though perhaps other readers can empathize or build connections between their current behaviour and past experiences by reading my thoughts.

Thank-you again for this post, your podcast, and your work in the facebook group. I look forward to the workshop.