Storytime - Mariah

Mariah is our beautiful female french bulldog. She is still young, is a year old and has just completed her first heat. She knows that she is solidly loved and has a special place with us, but she's starting to test her boundaries to see just how special she is. She decided to get into a fight with another female and they both got crated for a while.

Mariah didn't like that idea very well. Although she has been crated for sleeping from time to time, and she will voluntarily sleep in it when open, she hasn't had to spend much time in a time-out situation. When I had taken care of a few things and was going to let the dogs out in a supervised setting, Mariah charged the door, demanding it be opened RIGHT NOW. So I used the "back" command and she finally acquiesced and sat back, only to charge the door every time I lifted my hand. I didn't yell, I didn't show any heightened emotion, just simply had her back away from the door so I could open it. At one point she got so mad that I wasn't doing what she wanted me to, that she jumped up high on all four paws, shook her head and snorted at me, all at the same time. I held my ground and wasn't going to open the crate until she backed away from the door and was in a calm state. Finally, in exasperation, she THREW her body to the floor of the crate and rolled on her back, exaggerating her submissiveness. I laughed and she got to come out and behaved much better with the other dog.