Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Woof

Ever since I've been an adult, I've had dogs that don't bark.  Zoe and Scout, like Chloe before them, were Siberian Huskies, and true to the breed, they howled rather than barked.

And because of that, I guess, having a dog that barks has been an adjustment for me.

Lucy has a voice.  And she likes to use it.
There is nothing inherently wrong with that!  Dogs are suppose to bark. 
Lucy barks at Ricky when she wants him to chase her.  And sometimes she offers a different bark when he's playing too rough with her. She also has an entirely different bark she uses when she's in her crate and someone comes to our front door.  It's sort of a deep grumble.  And then she has this other bark she uses sometimes with strangers that approach her that she's not too sure about.  It's pretty mighty, and she makes her point.  I figure, Lucy is my first "guard dog" with a bark like that.  I feel very safe walking with her at dusk.  She's not going to let anyone sneak up on us!  But yeah, every now and then, I'm a little embarrassed when she does it.

Ricky doesn't bark much, but every now and then, when he really wants to play, he'll do his little bow and bark a couple of times.  It's really, really cute- of course!
The other day we met some older lady and her Schnauzer, and Ricky voiced his call to play.  The lady said to him, "Now, no barking!" And he looked at her and cocked his head as if to say, "What in the world are you talking about, Lady?"  She then told me, "Well, he's just a puppy- My dog is 9 and he only just now learned not to bark."  I told her I wasn't really trying to teach him not to bark.  I'm not sure she and I saw eye to eye.

Like I said, I've had to get use to the fact that my dogs bark.  It's the voice they have.  Why in the world should I try to convince them not to use it?


1 comment:

Valerie said...

My friend Laura that I told you about, who lost her two schnauzers, recently adopted two new dogs. She has the opposite situation. The schnauzers barked at EVERYTHING. Even if you got off the couch too quickly. When the doorbell rang, it took at least 5 minutes to get them to quiet down.

Now, the two new pups hardly bark at all. When the doorbell rings, they each bark maybe three times, as if to say, "Hey, there's someone at the door," and then they stop! These two aren't related to each other, but they have the same temperament. It's so interesting to see. And when I'm at Laura's it feels strange to hear silence when you walk in the door. :o)

I see I have a lot of posts to catch up on. I hope you're doing well!

xoxo,
val