My dog hates it when I play online poker

[CarlSpackler]

This is not a joke. It's 100% serious. I don't know what forum to put this in so I chose the psychology forum since this is an animal psych issue. If it belongs somewhere else, please move it, and I apologize in advance.

I have a pure bred Chow Chow whose a sweetheart, but very high maintenance. I work a regular 40 hour a week job, and live alone, so she's alone most weekdays (I try and make it home for lunch when I can). When I get home, I exercise her, play with her, and give her plenty of attention.

Here's the problem: Whenever I sit down at the computer in my kitchen to play poker online, she usually starts whining and showing her disapproval, distracting me. Among other things, she'll crawl under the desk and has knocked the keyboard over numerous times.

What's so odd about this is that if I sit on the couch and watch tv, she usually lays down by my feet, and she never has any complaints. If I'm reading a book, she never starts whining either. It's only when I sit down at the computer to play poker.

Depending on the time of day/night, I let her outside when I'm playing to avoid this, but many times this isn't an option because if the neighbors on either side of my house are outside in their backyard she'll bark at them relentlessly, and won't come inside when I call her, until the neighbors go in. This is even a bigger distraction.

Obviously, explaining variance to her or showing her all the $$$ I'm making isn't a solution, since she has the intelligence of a 2 year old.

Does anyone have any experience with a similar issue, or have any realistic suggestions which would solve this problem (no jokes please)?

Thanks.