It's interesting how dogs learn to live in our world. They have somewhat limited verbal understand, but an amazing understanding of our actions and what those actions mean. This worked against me the other day.
I went to the store and bought a case for my laptop. It's black fabric and slightly larger than a piece of paper, and about an inch thick. When I brought it home I took it into the kitchen, cut off the tags with the scissors and put it on a shelf for later use.
The only other things that have tags that I need to cut off in the kitchen with the scissors are Kody's toys. Except he usually gets them right after that. In spite of this minor difference, I believe Kody tought that the laptop bag was his. He had an unusual interest in it, but not as much as he would for a regular toy. Probably because it looked so boring.
But the difference showed up when I started using the laptop bag. If I left the house with it he would bark from his crate when I shut the door. At first I thought something was wrong because he never does this, so I went back in to see what it was. Although this was the reasonable thing to do, it had the unintended effect of making Kody think he could bark and I would come back in.
For the next few days he would bark for a little while after I left the house, but only if I left with the laptop bag. Today, thankfully, he didn't bark. I think I will cut the tags off in a different room the next time I get something.