She’s gone now these past couple of years. A good dog. I could make a list two pages long of the bad dog habits she didn’t have.

Personally the barking doesn’t bother me, but I don’t like seeing her get stressed out. If I’m home I’ll lay on the floor with her and rub her tummy til she falls asleep.

But anyway, I have live human contact almost every day. Plus elder care comes in once a week to assist me with things that my disability prevents me from doing.

So I’m cool. I’m also a loner, have always been. When Fox lived here for almost three years while seeking employment, I almost begged him to go out for a few hours so I could have some alone time. I do not do well with someone around all the time. I’d probably have buried a husband in the back yard by now just to get away from him were I still married.

As I have gotten older, I find myself more and more happy with my own company but I live with Alice, and other family members are nearby to keep me grounded.

Nevertheless, I still enjoy a lot of alone time and I tend to start mumbling to myself if I am left to my reverie too long. I hope you have access to some live human company.

Good advice on the dog. Patience is the key.

And how can I be lonely with two fuzzy creatures who are as affectionate as can be and demand, demand, demand. Phoenix was keeping me company here at the keyboard for quite awhile, his fuzzy little belly resting on my forearm. Makes it damned hard to type. And Merc comes around for his belly scratch.

Your dog feels threatened and is protecting himself and his family (you and your family). I might suggest a technique that could help. Have someone your dog doesn’t know come to the door. He barks. Open the door, allow the “stranger” in and then, if the dog continues barking, walk back out. Have the person come back in and repeat as many times as it takes before the dog finally shuts up. Then when it’s quiescent, give him a treat and allow him to make friends with the stranger. The stranger should allow the dog to sniff his/her hand and then he can stroke the dog on its head gently, soothingly, while speaking soothingly.

Repeat the process on other days until the problem goes away. It will take some work and dedication and the cooperation of other people but it also might do the trick. He is not rewarded for barking, is rewarded for not barking, and is taught that strangers are not threatening.

I had a dream years ago that upon waking, I was warm from the inside, out. I felt as though I could float. It was the most incredible feeling of my life. Nothing has compared to it before or after.

Coffee helps.

In answer to your question, yes, I’ve come out of some dreams so sad that it’s taken me most of the day to shake it.

Like TB, my recollection of dreams is like water on a hotplate. It’s in my mind very vividly for a few minutes after waking, but a quarter hour later it’s all but gone. Kind of weird, really, that they can disappear so quickly and completely.

Edit: On a few ocassions right after waking I’ve tried to go over a dream in the hopes of being able to devote it to more accessible memory, but it’s always been like trying to grab water.

A dog develops a very specific idea of their own “turf,” and will bark the hell out of a stranger who “violates” it. Our dog scared the crap out of endless delivery people. Even though she was confined in her little fenced yard, the yard was connected to the house by a dog door, so she would shoot out of the dog door like a submarine-launched missile and start jumping up on the fence barking her little head off. I had to clean up as much FedEx guy crap as dog crap. There’s a theory going around the neighborhood that a delivery guy is still living somewhere up on top of one of the live oaks out front.

But take her to the park on a leash, and strangers? Meh. Who cares? She’d sit there enjoying the sun, and ignore other people, and even other dogs. Away from home, barking wasn’t her job any more.