Help With Sophie and Spencer

One of the things that I would say is a highlight of the past six weeks is how it's been with the dogs. Even though Mark and I understand that every animal is an individual with distinct personalities we chose a particular breed for certain characteristics. We were so in love with Oscar for those eight years we had him. Oscar wandered to our house one day and fit seamlessly into our household and lives with no effort on our part. We knew that was unique but we also thought that breed would have the tendencies that Oscar embodied. Spencer is getting there but Sophie...Sophie is such a handful. Oh my God , I have to know what she's doing EVERY moment. She spends her days waiting for that one opportunity to get into trouble. The inside of the house looks like a war zone as many areas are off limits to them. They have successfully proven that they can't have full run of the house. The potty training has been painful. Spencer gets it. With Sophie I think she uses it as a tool to punish us. A high maintenance girl, she is. Now she's mastering her barking skills. They notice every noise from behind the fence which is a parking lot for a church. Oh yes, Sundays are a joy. The dog next door gets fervent attention which is ironic since neither Sophie or Spencer wants anything to do with any dog when we're on our walks or at a dog park. Enter Alan Fong. Alan was suggested to us by a friend of mine. Alan has experience in training dogs. How much I don't know but he loves to do it and any help is welcome. Alan returned my call requesting his help. We were on the phone for more than an hour so Alan could assess our situation and make some immediate recommendations until we meet for our first appointment. Mark is out of town until the end of the month so we have an appointment for August 3rd. After hearing everything I had to say concerning habits, schedules and challenges Alan made his recommendations. One of his suggestions was to get a special liquid for the drinking water. "This will help calm nerves", he said. I asked him how many drops to put in their dog bowl. He then told me that it's meant FOR ME! He thinks their reacting to MY stress! Poor Sophie and Spencer. They've been exposed to me.