The Torture of The Dog

Barnabas is becoming independent.

He has been allowed free to roam upstairs unsupervised. He shows absolutely no interest in the second bedroom, but an inordinate amount of interest in the overlook (the infamous one from whence his introduction to Jonah began).

Barnabas looked down upon me this morning, and lo, he was saddened. For he wanted to be with me in person.

So my smart kitten figured out where we went - ie, found the gate and jumped it. Made his way cautiously down the stairs. Found us, began purring and jumped into my lap. He is currently exploring.

What has this to do with the dog, you ask?

The only reason Barney is still exploring is that the dog was crated at the time. Because he could hear and then see Barnabas on the ledge, he started going nuts. He barks to get the cat's attention, and then barks to invite it to play, then barks in frustration because he can't get to it, and then whines because he wants to get to it.

We figured some crate time, where he could calm down, would be helpful. And so it had been until Barney descended to join us.

Now the cacophony of desperation, hope, frustration and desire is ringing throughout the entire house and Barney continues to look at Jonah with disdain (though not outright fear) and we wonder what the fuck we can do to make the noise stop. Obviously if Barney can jump the gate, he can come down anytime he isn't confined to the bathroom. Our goal is to get them used to each other and get Jonah to calm the fuck down, but how to achieve these goals is currently beyond me.

ETA: As the deafening noise continued, Barnabas got more and more agitated (though not scared, hissing, or defensive) and stuck by me instead of exploring. We decided that was plenty of fun for one day and DH took him back upstairs, where he made a beeline for the bathroom and voiced not one complaint about being shut up there. If the loud purrs are to be believe, he was quite pleased with our decision. The dog has stopped his barking and is blissfully and thoroughly exploring every place the cat visited on his little exploration of The Great Unknown otherwise called The Living Room. I'm just pleased I can hear myself think once again.