This gentle looking fur-baby is not always the best behaved kid on the block. Although she loves people and is considered a social butterfly, she can seem quite terrifying to strangers who have dogs. Plain and simple, she just doesn’t like other dogs and she’ll make it known, no matter the size or breed.
One of her favorite past times is to sit in the corner of our yard watching the view and listening to the cars as they screech around the corner. Recently, I was outdoors enjoying a cup of coffee in the early evening; an unseasonably cool night for this time of the year made it the perfect setting to sit back, relax and hang out with my dogs. As the light breeze ruffled the leaves of the surrounding trees, I started observing her as she greeted the neighbors on their evening strolls, some of which were accompanied by their dogs.
Interestingly, I noticed that she chose when to growl and when not to growl at them. One thing is certain, she never growls at people she knows. But, if she knows you and you have a dog with you, then she will growl. If you’re a stranger walking without a dog, she won’t growl, but a stranger with a dog is gonna get a growl.
After about an hour of watching this behavior, our favorite neighbor crossed the street and was heading towards our house with his dog. This is someone she knows very well and I was expecting her to growl at his dog. As he got closer to our house, I was shocked to see that our dog allowed his dog not only to come right up to the fence, but to touch noses as they smelled each other. There was no bark, no growl or showing of the teeth. It was just a peaceful neighborly meeting between two dogs, and a beautiful one at that. For the first time, there was acceptance of another dog and I was perplexed. My only conclusion is that in her mind she’s not threatened by the neighbor’s dog because she knows he is a friend and any friend of ours is a friend of hers.
So, the next time your dog growls at another dog, remember, she’s just protecting what she loves most, you.
