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I need for our dogs to understand what I'm saying to them for about the next three years or so. Just like in the Simpsons, when Santa's Little Helper finally starts hearing actual words instead of jibberish and saves himself from the pound. It's not the dogs fault. They're just doing what they've always done, which is to bark like mad at every person, dog, cat, squirrel, possum, branch or floating leaf that comes near our yard. The problem is that their favorite barking place is just outside of Gabriel's bedroom window. And even though he seems mostly oblivious to their barking while awake, they do wake him up during the day from his very infrequent and already short naps. So if I could just get them to understand that we still want them to bark, but only if a person is actually trying to come over, under, or through the fence. Of course, I would never take my dogs to the pound, but it would be nice to quit having to run outside hissing loudly for them to hush, then praising them for being such good watch dogs so they won't stop barking at people altogether.