NO Bucky!

I've been impatient with the dog lately. The weather has been tough, so he's gone for very few walks, which makes him whiney and clingy and that in turn makes me sort of batty. A lot of the time, I end up getting pretty short with him when he barks, or whines, or generally isn't a perfect dog.

I realized today that I might need to work on my communications skills with Lucky when he barked at a strange person that was walking by the house. It was one low quiet bark- quite appropriate given that he's a dog and all- and I wouldn't normally object to this sort of soft warning bark if it is indicating he sees a stranger, which it clearly was. But Cooper did object. And in a mean stern voice (for a toddler) he yelled right at the dog, while pointing at him.

"NO Bucky! Shhhhhhhhhhh! Down!"

You could have scraped my eyebrows off the ceiling. Cooper has no idea that the dog's name is Lucky. Truly. He thinks it is Big Doggie (pronounced Beet Daw-ghee) and that is how he always refers to the dog. So I think that really, this was a case of Cooper repeating me and Matt pretty much verbatim from the million times we've said this in Cooper's presence.

That's not good. We need to walk the dog more. Or we need to be nicer to Lucky. Or I should say, Bucky.