The Barking Dog

Every morning whilst taking my children to school we have to walk past a particular house. This particular house is home to two large, excitable and highly territorial Labrador dogs.

Most dogs are somewhat territorial and will want to let others know that the piece of garden ground that they occupy belongs to them and their family. They generally do this by barking and running around in circles. This behavior is even more pronounced when the people walking past their garden gate have a dog or two with them.

You see, all dogs relate to each other in accordance with their perception of the hierarchical system that would, in the wild, form the basis of all interaction between the different members of the pack. However, in modern times, this can be a little annoying to the humans who are present.

The two dogs who I have to walk past on the way to school with my kids are clearly used to having their garden to themselves and, although we don't actually walk inside their garden, our very proximity to their "turf" sets off a chain reaction that ends with the Labs seeing my dogs as interlopers and as a result start barking their heads off in order to put them in their place and make quite sure they do not set foot across the threshold.

Many dogs would defer to the two whose garden it is, with strength coming from the fact that they are on home ground. Unfortunately for me, though, my dogs are extremely argumentative and see any challenge as something that must be met with equal, or greater, voracity.

What this invariably means is that I jump out of my skin at the incredibly loud rumpus, which always seem to start suddenly, without warning. No matter how many times it happens, and no matter how many times I tell myself that next time I will remember the hazard and either avoid it altogether, or at the very least be prepared for it and not allow myself to be startled by it, it always seems to catch me off guard.

I have taken two steps to improve matters.

1. I now make sure that my dogs are on their leashes. For some reason, perhaps because they are seen as less of a threat, the two Labradors do not subject my dogs to such vitriolic treatment when they are restrained by their leashes.
2. And this is fairly new, I have taken steps to befriend the owner of the two dogs in question. I have a theory that if the dogs see their owners (pack leaders) getting on well together socially, then they will copy this behavior and not indulge in the noisy posturing that they currently get involved with whenever they meet.

It's early days on this "lead by example" approach, but I'll try to remember to update this blog with the outcome once I've had a chance to assess the tactic.

If nothing else, I will have made a new friend in the process! Perhaps I could take them a present, too; maybe a new dog bed.