Does your dog have a guarding instinct?
How does he/she act when somebody comes to the door of your house? Invited?
Uninvited?
And for my own curiosities sake, when did your dog's guarding instinct develop?
I love these kinds of threads where we share about our dogs, but I am also particularly interested in this topic currently because Leo developed a guarding instinct from one day to the next when we moved from an apartment to a house.
At the apartment, he would never ever growl at people coming to our house, even if they completely came in on their own and uninvited. He just wanted to check them out immediately and they would receive a friendly greeting.
Then we moved to a house (when he was 1 1/2), and he growled when our new housemate let herself in. Ever since, it appears the guarding instinct is here to stay. At first I thought it was just because of the move, but we are very settled in now, and it has remained.
- He growls at the door if someone is outside that he does not know, including walking on the sidewalk of our side of the street.
- He REALLY growls if they let themselves in without us, but it is in a fearful slink-away kind of way. It takes him a few minutes to settle and be able to greet them, even if we have said it is ok.
- If we come in WITH a new person, he greets in a friendly way, but perhaps a little more submissively that he did in the apartment.
Personally, I am happy with it. I don't think he would actually do anything with a real intruder, but at the very least when I hear a bump-in-the-night, I know that it is nothing if Leo is still sleeping.
I am pretty thankful he doesn't alarm bark though.
What about your dog?
How does he/she act when somebody comes to the door of your house? Invited?
Uninvited?
And for my own curiosities sake, when did your dog's guarding instinct develop?
I love these kinds of threads where we share about our dogs, but I am also particularly interested in this topic currently because Leo developed a guarding instinct from one day to the next when we moved from an apartment to a house.
At the apartment, he would never ever growl at people coming to our house, even if they completely came in on their own and uninvited. He just wanted to check them out immediately and they would receive a friendly greeting.
Then we moved to a house (when he was 1 1/2), and he growled when our new housemate let herself in. Ever since, it appears the guarding instinct is here to stay. At first I thought it was just because of the move, but we are very settled in now, and it has remained.
- He growls at the door if someone is outside that he does not know, including walking on the sidewalk of our side of the street.
- He REALLY growls if they let themselves in without us, but it is in a fearful slink-away kind of way. It takes him a few minutes to settle and be able to greet them, even if we have said it is ok.
- If we come in WITH a new person, he greets in a friendly way, but perhaps a little more submissively that he did in the apartment.
Personally, I am happy with it. I don't think he would actually do anything with a real intruder, but at the very least when I hear a bump-in-the-night, I know that it is nothing if Leo is still sleeping.
I am pretty thankful he doesn't alarm bark though.
What about your dog?