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Kibble Patrol
Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Lately, I have been trying to teach Scout to stay away from the dog's bowls. On more than one occasion, I have caught her putting dog food in her mouth, which doesn't really gross me out as much as it scares me because the pieces are perfect choking size and they're way too hard for her to chew up. Anyway, whenever she is making a bee-line for the dog's food and water, it's my first inclination to just pick the bowls up and put them on the counter.

But I would rather TEACH her that the bowls are a no-no, even if it requires more work on my part. So, every time she darts straight for the bowls, I say "no" firmly to her and redirect her to play with something else. And it's actually working! She does get pretty mad when I do that, but she quickly forgets about it and gets interested in whatever thing I directed her attention toward.

Now, most of the time I don't even have to redirect her because she'll go over to the bowls, get really close and then she looks over at me and shakes her head and crawls away! I guess whenever I tell her that the dog food is a no-no, I must shake my head. She also shakes her head randomly just for fun throughout the day, so I suppose I shouldn't be so amazed....but still, that just seems like a smart thing to do. Yay Scout!

I'm sure that her impulse control is not the best, so I doubt if she could resist without me in the room with her. I think it's more like a game at this point...like, "Hey, if I stop and don't touch the bowl but look all cute and shake my head instead, mommy claps and smiles." .....but I'm still proud of her and it's so much fun to watch her learn.

Labels: discipline, firsts, teaching