For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for March 08, 2024

Well Farley is old now. He just waits for someone to notice he’s missing and come to open the door. He rather sleep than exert energy on barking.

What’s that saying about , ‘Best laid plans’…?

Edgar has shrunk from the dog who sat as tall as the mail slot to this tiny thing. This puppy has issues that cannot be solved by barking.

My dog never will bark or scratch to let me know he wants out. He’ll never even cross his legs… but one long walk a day will cover everything… usually. I leave the basement door open for the rare exceptions.

Why on earth would Elly risk a class-action lawsuit from angry neighbors by making the dog bark outdoors? Especially late at night?

Expecting your dog to train himself to spontaneously change from doing what he does naturally to doing what you want him to do simply by standing around waiting for him to change sounds like an exercise in futility and a demonstration of Why You Shouldn’t Have A Dog.

Well that worked great.

That actually was not a bad idea. Too bad Farley didn’t cooperate!

From Lynn’s Comments: I had as much trouble trying to teach our dog when to bark as I did trying to teach him when NOT to!

In the 2nd block, Farley’s like, " yeah, I’M the GOOD boy."

I think Elly is being mean!Julie

You can lead a dog to the door, but you can’t make him bark!

Edgar? Strange name for a dog.

One of my dogs taught the other bad habits.

Not the worst idea, Liz.

Edgar keep scratching that door. One of these days you’ll get them trained.

After 9 years our dog finally barks. Occasionally. He usually just stands at the door and sends thought waves. Which work.

Another good reason NOT to get another dog….

I love the strip today! Edgar is doing duty for two dogs while Farley sleeps.

Seriously, why are you training a puppy to bark more? I’d want him to bark less.

Get a dog door!

Animals. They DO live by a different rhythm :D

Great idea, but…

The obvious solution is a doggy door, but Lynn gets more creative than that.

If Edgar was yelled at to shut up in the past, then that will be a disincentive for him to bark.

Elly can’t have it both ways.

This is not the main theme of today’s strip, but I must remark it is nice to see Elizabeth dressed appropriately. There was last week’s strip which showed her in a bustier, but there was also one a while back where Elizabeth was hunched over and wearing a frumpy blue dress that made Elly look racy by comparison!

That door’s gone anyway. Repainting won’t take out the grooves in it.

Growing up my aunt’s neighbor had an Irish Setter. He’d come over to visit and get a treat; he would let us know he was there by knocking on the aluminum kitchen door in the garage with his paw.

Weird, I taught my dog to not bark. He picked up the bad habit of barking when someone knocked on the door from my roommate’s dog.