Our neighbors two doors down got a dog from the pound a couple months ago. His name is Sampson. Like a lot of dogs with neglect in their past, Sampson starts barking steadily if he’s left outside too long. He’s part Rottweiler and part something else, so he has a fairly substantial bark.
Which is good, because Ava loves it when he starts barking. Her eyes get big as soon as she hears him, and she turns to me and starts saying, “Dog! Dog!” Sometimes it sounds more like “Doc!,” but it’s close enough.
Leah’s upped the ante by explaining to Ava that Sampson barks because he wants to come inside and eat. So now, when the barking starts, Ava puts her fingers to her mouth and says, “Dog! Eat! Dog! Eat!” An added benefit to what is already a very cute display is that we can often get Ava to eat something at this point by telling her the dog is eating too. Anything to get some food into her.