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| "Who, me?" |
Once I realized that Angus doesn't bark at strangers when he's walking with Mary, everything changed. No more Ms. Nice Guy! No more sweet talking and treats and dragging him up to reluctant strangers and asking them to feed him kibble and scratch his ears.
No way. Huh uh. Or, I should say, UH UH. That's the key phrase these days.
This morning we left the house at 7 a.m. and there was a person waiting for the bus across the street and Angus started to bark and I gave his leash a sharp little jerk, and I said, "UH UH." And he stopped barking.
And we walked a little farther and saw an older man walking through the park on a trail that intersected ours, and Angus stiffened and his ears went up and just as he was about to bark I gave the leash a little jerk and I said, "UH UH" and he didn't bark.
We rounded the corner and there was a woman waiting at the bus stop, the same woman who was there yesterday, the one who likes cats, not dogs, and Angus started to bark and I gave his leash a sharp jerk and I said, "UH UH," and I took him across the street just to be on the safe side.
And he didn't bark.
This evening it worked pretty well too. Not perfect, but so much better than it has been. Each time he saw a person I watched his body language and just at the moment he looked like he was going to bark, I gave his leash a jerk and said, "UH UH," and while he still sometimes got one or two barks out, that was all, just one or two, and they were neither loud nor ferocious.
And after we had walked on a ways, I stopped and praised him and gave him valuable treats, the really good ones, the bacon-flavored ones, and he got all bouncy and happy. It was snowing so beautifully, big, thick flakes glowing in the streetlights, and if it wasn't for all the cursing I did every time I slipped on the ice, which was often, it was a lovely, lovely walk.
With my very good boy Angus.
And just because I haven't posted one of these lately, here:
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| The morning cuddle |
Do you think he feels his job is to protect you? In his mind you are his mother figure and he wants to let others know he is present and will protect you.
ReplyDeleteI did not think so at first. I thought he was genuinely scared. But once I realized he wasn't barking when he was with the dog-walker, it became clear that, yes, he thinks he needs to protect me. So sweet. But HE MUST BE STOPPED!
DeleteYou are such a good dog owner!
ReplyDeletesome day i will be able to relax and let my guard down. but not yet.
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