My main question is how to unlink actions from words. Years ago, my dog picked up a, I suppose, common trait. When there was a dog walking outside when we were driving him around, if we mentioned the word "Doggy", his ears would perk up, he would run to the direction we were pointing in, and bark wildly, until we had driven far past the other dog.
Now, if we make mention of the word "Doggy", his ears will perk up, he will run wildly to where we are pointing, and start barking maniacally. Often times though, there will be no dogs, and it is as if he is barking at a hallucination. In fact, we try to keep the word "Doggy" outside of conversations because any resemblance of the word causes him to run to a window, and bark wildly, even if there are NO dogs anywhere.
I would love to unlink the action "look there's a dog" from the word "Doggy", because often times, it is a hassle to bring him down once he has started barking.
Is there any easy way to accomplish this?
