Why it's hard living with an ACD/Whippet–Reason 2

I love Rio, I really do, but there are days where he just wont shut his trap.  He is a  loudmouth (and I lovingly call him this on a regular basis).  While he doesn’t bark constantly, when he does, it’s intense.  Curbing his barking has been an adventure (y’know, one of those adventures like in the Oregon Trail video game where first you get cholera, then you lose your daughter in a snow storm, then your wagon yoke breaks and you lose your oxen and then you get the flu and then Pa dies, and just when you think you are going to make it to your homestead…. your wagon sinks while fording a river).  I have won some small battles, but I think I will ultimately lose the war–though I know part of this is that I’m pretty tolerant of his barking in some situations.
Rio really doesn’t bark excessively in the house and has a pretty good “queit” cue (thank goodness), but outside, all bets are off.  He barks with tennis balls in his mouth, he barks when we play frisbee, he barks when we are training, he barks and barks and barks to get other dogs to play, he barks because he likes to bark and he barks because he likes to hear himself bark (or so I say).  It’s not a daily issue and generally isn’t too much of a problem but when he gets going…oh boy!
HOWEVER, his barking has become an absolute source of entertainment recently and I’m struggling not to reinforce it with fits of laughter.  Not too long ago, Rio was having an absolute barking fit in the house and all of a sudden I hear this high pitch, pathetic squeal and I turn around to see Bandit, my mom’s Shih Tzu howling in the most dramatic fashion.
The following is a reenactment…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vW7gnWUUlM&feature=player_detailpage]
Rio’s barking and dramatic bandit’s subsequent howling is reason number two that living with an acd/whippet mix is hard.  🙂