I'm Mad At The Dog

When Lucy was younger she was an excellent guard dog.  She hardly ever barked and if she did it was for a reason, and we could usually tell what she was barking about by the way she was barking.  One bark ofr a bear, one bark for a deer, one bark for a garden customer that had arrived on their bike and another bark for anything strange like ducks outside the fence.  Now that she is older she barks more often and we can't always tell why she's barking.

photo courtesy of Ben Adams Photography

This morning....early, early in the morning I might add.....she started to bark and wouldn't stop no matter how many times we told her to stop.  We didn't want the neighbors to get mad so we brought her into the house, in our bedroom.  But that wasn't enough....she kept "woofing" off and on for some time after that. Eventually she settled down and we were able to go back to sleep.  

Today she was still worked up about something and would have barking spells.  She escaped by slipping out of her collar TWICE!!  Fortunately I found out both times before she took off.  And then, when I took her for a walk later this afternoon she kept pushing against me while we were walking.....what is her problem!?!?!  Is there really a bear out there in the woods or is she just getting senile?