海角大神

Rescue dog: Exercising dominance for the sake of good manners

Rescue dog Albie begins learning better barking decorum as Dad experiments with different tactics and technique.

For the first six weeks or so that our rescue dog Albie was with us, he greeted every stranger like a long lost friend. He wagged his tail. His eyes brightened. He nuzzled their laps and lifted his paw to encourage them to keep paying attention. Outdoors, it鈥檚 still the same, but of late, at home, there鈥檚 been a little bit of ruff stuff. Whenever someone comes into the house, even people he鈥檚 met before, he starts to bark.

It鈥檚 not hard to discern why. Every dog owner we know, and every book we鈥檝e consulted, says Albie is doing what comes naturally: he鈥檚 defending us and his home. But while we appreciate the concern and the effort, we鈥檙e trying to nip this in the bud lest our home become an uncomfortable place for people we鈥檝e been welcoming there for the past 24 years.

There鈥檚 nothing quite as pathetic as a dog who knows he鈥檚 displeased the people he loves and is attached to, and I hate making him feel that way, but the advice we鈥檝e been getting is to firmly admonish him when he barks, assert control (that Dog Whisperer guy, Cesar Millan, makes it sound like some kind of telepathic messaging in which you virtually will your dog into submission), and then, according to the famed Monks of New Skete, authors of several books on raising dogs, you basically pretend they don鈥檛 exist for half an hour (the dog, that is, not your guests, though I鈥檓 tempted to try that with certain people who won鈥檛 be named here).

I was feeling pretty proud of myself the other night because it seemed I was making some headway. My son鈥檚 friend came over and Albie started in. Since asserting control is key, I first demonstrated my authority by telling my wife, who was saying 鈥淎lbie, no!鈥� to step aside. Well not in those words exactly, but I stepped forward as if there were a new sheriff in town, and since Albie seems to have attached himself primarily to me, I figured I鈥檇 have more influence.

Now, this would be much funnier if I was, Ralph Kramden-style, ultimately shown to be a bloviating fool. But, in fact, as soon as I said a very firm 鈥渘o,鈥� looked Albie square in those beautiful brown eyes of his, and pointed down at the floor, he slinked under the coffee table, his favorite refuge. And we didn鈥檛 hear a peep from him for the rest of the evening, even when the friend鈥檚 Dad came into the house to retrieve his son.

Time will tell if this strategy works long term, but if it does, my question for Cesar and the Monks is how you teach them to tell friend from foe. At the beginning, before Albie barked at anyone, my wife, Judy, was saying, 鈥渂ut I want him to bark at strangers.鈥�

Now she鈥檚 very upset that he鈥檚 barking at our friends.

I鈥檓 thinking of making up a few dozen flash cards with pictures of the good guys and a few stereotypical bad guys and having Albie memorize them. If I鈥檓 successful I鈥檓 going to impose my psychic will and have Cesar Millan step aside.

海角大神 has assembled a diverse group of the best family and parenting bloggers out there. Our contributing and guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor, and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs.