Pavlov Obviously Didn't OWN a Dog

Remember the "Pavlov's Dogs" theory of conditioning? That you can actually "condition" a dog (and therefore humans) with stimuli to create a behavioral response (see, I listened in psychology). Well Professor Pavlov obviously didn't own a dog...just train them. Because if he had owned a dog, he would have known better.

My dog, Emma, has been "conditioned" by her "master" (aka my husband) to go out at 4am, be let in at 4:30 am, eat at 4:31 am, go back out at 4:40 am and then go back to bed - all based on his morning routine. The problem therein is that on days my husband is off, the damn dog STILL thinks this is her schedule. And my husband wouldn't hear a freight train in the bedroom much less a whining, barking dog.

So I get up and let her out. Too tired to know the schedule by heart, I go back to bed. Two seconds later, my daughter awakens and comes to the bed, having heard me let the dog out (I guess I'm louder than my husband). Sometime later I heard the dog barking at the door and got up, let her back in and fed her. I then headed back to bed to find my daughter stretched out sideways. So I headed to her bed...oh but wait - I didn't let the dog out AFTER she ate. For the next 10 or so minutes the dog stood next to the bed I was in and scratched at it, crying while I threw stuffed animals at her. I finally got up, let her BACK out, swatted my sleeping husband made a bowl of cereal.

Paybacks are misery...you can bet that my husband will soon be sorry for strutting his Pavlov stuff around.