*First a little newsflash: Summer lost a tooth! She was chewing on something and I did what any Mama does, I stuck my hand inside her mouth to see what it was. I pulled out a tooth that looked like a molar. Now she gets a visit from the Tooth Fairy!

Today I have a concern that I just want to throw out to the universe, you can pray for me, send me a suggestion or just enjoy that it is my problem not yours. Here is my problem, my sweet little bear Koda is a barker. Now that may not seem like a catastrophe in the scheme of things when people are dealing with far worse problems. But in my family, with these two puppies, I have tried to follow all the right steps to train them, set boundaries, shower them with love and attention, socialize them, and even separate them to build confidence as individuals. For whatever reason, Koda has taken on the role of alerting the whole house when someone is at the door or if a big leaf floats by the window. His bark is deep and loud. He is also a barking greeter to all moving people and dogs on walks. His tail is wagging but it is starting to also sound a bit protective. Summer hardly ever barks at all. Koda speaks for both of them. Last night he kept barking at the door, we opened it but he did not go out, then we sat back down. He barked again, same thing. My husband looked over at their bone dry water bowls. “Aha!” He was telling us they were thirsty.

I don’t want to discourage his communication with us or his alertness in our house, but how can I keep him from barking at everyone and everything that moves?

At the moment he and Summer are sound asleep on the marble fireplace, so I guess it is not noisy all of the time. Both are very affectionate with each other and with us. Koda will also bark a welcome greeting to any family member that enters the house or comes downstairs. Maybe it’s his way of cheerfully saying, “Hey look who’s here?! What’s up?! Come on in!”