Each of us dogs has our own way of letting the peoples know when we need something. Take, for instance going in or out the door to the outside.

Blondie’s approach is the same whether she wants out or in: a light scratch on the metal panel in the bottom of the storm door. If the wooden door is closed, she’ll scratch that –but that’s discouraged.

For me, if I want outside I “talk” (gar-rar-rar-roof) and go to the door. Sometimes I forget and bark first, if the reason I want out is real exciting, but HairyFace won’t open the door until I settle down and speak my request instead of shouting it. When I want back in, it’s one loud BARK! This just lets them know I’m at the door and waiting.

To go out, Volt just goes to the door. If no one notices, he goes to them (usually Hairy) and gives him The Look, which says “I need to go, you’d better open the door.”

Initially, Volt picked up Blondie’s cue and was scratching on the door to be let in, but with his long legs it was too easy for him to be scratching on the screen above the metal panel, and that got him scolded. We have enough trouble with buggies getting in the house in summer without tearing holes in the screens.

So for a while he’d just stand and stare through the door until someone noticed he was out there. Sometimes that takes a while.

Then he decided to try my method. Just one sharp bark to alert them. But with his hound dog drawl instead of “BARK” it comes out as “BarROOO!”

We all get a kick out of that. But … it does the trick: he gets in!