[nagdu] barking?

Mon Sep 7 19:33:05 UTC 2015

I have zero problems with barking when the dog is off harness, particularly if something or someone startles them.  Jenny barks when someone knocks at the door... this has come in handy more than once because she will keep barking until someone answers the door; occasionally my husband and I will be in different areas of the house and not hear someone knocking, so her alert behavior helps us out.  If the barking is not constant, let the dog bark at home!

In harness, it's a bit trickier, but a dog is a dog is a dog. I wrote about this before, but about six or eight months ago, I was at a mall food court meeting a friend. He went to go pick up drinks, and someone who was definitely drunk and possibly under the influence of drugs approached my table. Jenny stood up and tried to back away from him, but there was a wall behind her, so she had nowhere else to go. He kept coming, and reached out and touched her. She did not bark until the instant his hand touched her... he was told both by me and the couple at the table behind me to not interact with my dog. During this whole exchange, as soon as he took his hand away and talked to me or the other people, the barking stopped. But then he started to b ack away and started talking to Jenny. She started barking again.

Situations like this don't bother me, largely because it's a way of communicating something isn't right. She was not overly loud, she did not bare her teeth, she did not growl, attack, or do anything else threatening toward this guy.  While I have experienced more of Jenny's in-harness barking than most people would tolerate, I believe this is due to a health concern that is being addressed. All things being equal, though, in harness she will not bark at anyone who is not threatening to her.

Daryl
----- Original Message -----
From: S L Johnson via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Cc: S L Johnson <SLJohnson25 at comcast.net>
Sent: Mon, 07 Sep 2015 12:18:30 -0600 (MDT)
Subject: Re: [nagdu] barking?

Danielle:

Yes, I have experienced this with my dogs. Sometimes they will react if 
they've been sleeping and something startles them. Your dog might have been 
startled by noises or all the activity going on around you in a busy crowded 
restaurant. Once when I was in church with Tara who had fallen asleep as we 
were singing the songs as the service began. , we had just finished singing 
and everyone put their books back into the racks making a sudden noise. 
Tara was startled by the noise and let out a loud bark. Without missing a 
beat the pastor said, "and the dog says Amen". The dogs might react if a 
person looks different or if people are acting weird, staring at your dog, 
wearing strange hats, carrying umbrella's etc... Years ago, I was accused 
of teaching my golden, Cinnamon, to hate black people. Yes, Cinnamon did 
bark at blacks but this was after we had been violently attacked by a black 
woman and her daughter. I didn't teach the behavior but, it was a result of 
her frightening experience.  I have recently begun to have a barking issue 
with Eva. She has started barking if people pass our house on the sidewalk 
or my back yard as they walk around the pond behind the homes in our senior 
complex. Her bark isn't a happy playful bark but a low growl that turns 
into a full frenzied bark if the person continues to approach us. I can 
feel The hair is up on her back and I can feel her heart pounding rapidly. 
The first time it happened was when a very weird acting lady was walking 
near my back yard. The lady was talking in a weird high pitched voice 
making strange noises trying to get Eva's attention. Eva was out on a long 
leash. The lady kept trying to grab the leash to pull Eva toward her. Eva 
ran to me and I could feel the lady still pulling at the leash. I don't 
know if the lady was trying to steal Eva but, I sure didn't like her tugging 
on the leash trying to pull Eva toward her. I was shocked when Eva growled 
and barked because I'd never heard Eva bark at anything for any reason. 
That lady has tried the same thing a few other times. Unfortunately law 
enforcement cannot help me because I am not able to give them a physical 
description of the lady. Since that first incident Eva has started to bark 
at people who pass our house. If someone comes up our driveway or to the 
door Eva will bark. I know the guide dog schools say not to allow barking 
but, as a senior woman living alone, I have to admit that I like the feeling 
that she is protecting me.

Sandra and Eva

-----Original Message----- 
From: Danielle Cyclorama via nagdu
Sent: Saturday, September 05, 2015 7:54 PM
To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
Cc: Danielle Cyclorama
Subject: [nagdu] barking?

I was in a restaurant today, and my dog started barking at something. This 
is really odd behavior for him because he rarely barks and has never barked 
indoors in harness before. The only thing out of the ordinary I noticed were 
noises of construction outside. This shouldn't have bothered him though 
since he doesn't usually get concerned about unfamiliar noises. The only 
thing I could think of is if it had something to do with another person's 
behavior since he was looking in the direction of the table next to us. This 
was not a happy bark; it was the bark he uses to tell other dogs to back 
off. I got him to look away and move to the other side of my chair rather 
easily, but it was just such an odd reaction. Have any of you been in a 
situation where your dog reacted defensively to a person?

Danielle and Thai
Sent from my iPhone
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