A roaring, smelly monster either approaches him head-on or bears down on him from behind. At night it may have two bright eyes. How can the dog know that the vehicle won’t plough into him and his human?
If barking gets the gentleman to open the door in the morning, then barking is proved to work. If barking when something comes through the door drives the postman away (or so they think), then again, barking works. If barking at a neighbour when they are in the garden results in them being told BE QUIET and maybe chased around the garden, then barking is reinforced.
Why would a calm, friendly dog become distressed and bark whenever his owner leaves the house? The lady called me because she wanted her beautiful eight-year-old Golden Retriever, Harvey, to ‘stop barking’ when she goes out. One friend suggested she tried an ultrasonic sound device (he ignores it) and another Read more
Why would a friendly dog suddenly bark, growl and even bite a family member in certain situations? When the elderly gentleman walks into the room, Bella changes personality. She growls and she barks. The other day she flew at him and bit him. Bella is a typical happy, sometimes demanding, Read more
I took him to the front door but only when he was ready to come willingly, and opened it. We didn’t go out immediately – just stood there, waiting for him to relax. The lady and gentleman stayed behind in the hallway, watching.
I then stepped out a couple of steps, turned around with a bit of verbal encouragement and walked straight back in through the door again. I must have done this about ten times. Now Jack was visibly relaxing – particularly as there had been nothing other than a passing car to worry about and he barely looked at it. He was beginning to trust me – just a little.