[nagdu] Barking - revisited?

[Daryl Marie]

Hi, guys!
I just wanted to discuss barking in harness... again.  This does not often happen, but it happens enough that I think I need more than a "Quiet" command.  Let me start off by saying that the barking is not constant, but it is 1-3 "Woof!"s.  based on what I can piece together from her body language, Jenny is not overly friendly, but not overly hostile when she does this...

Occasionally, Jenny will bark in harness.  This almost always happens when we are waiting for a bus.  it seems to be only if someone is making prolonged eye contact with her (just a guess on my part), and this seems to be primarily done by members of the homeless population in this particular neighborhood.  She will bark once or twice, I say "No" or "Quiet", she quiets down, but then the person will try and talk to her or pet her, which causes her to either bark again or move away if she can.  It is usually a quick exchange, but I can't seem to find any further patterns than what I have described, except this tends to happen more after work...

but last night I was having supper with a friend in a mall food court, when someone who was definitely under the influence of alcohol - perhaps something else as well? - approached our table.  Jenny is not normally affected by intoxicated people, but he bent down to her level.  The minute he touched her, she tried to back away, and let out a bark when she couldn't move any further away.  I told him to not pet the dog, Jenny quieted down, but then he started talking to her, which got her barking again.

I am not sure what to do here... would love any suggestions.

Daryl