[Ems]

I am pretty happy with Jasmine's "guard dog" abilities right now. Obviously that is not her intended role, she is a family dog through and through. But she has developed a suspicion of strangers who encroach on our property. The beauty of this suspicion is that as soon as she sees that I (or another family member) is ok or we tell her "its ok", that suspicion melts away instantly. In public she loves everyone.

We also get a lot of door to door religion people. The kind of people who carry on when we tell them we already have a church that we love etc. They always seem to arrive at inconvenient times too. Jasmine senses my annoyance and growls at them until I tell her it is ok.

Recently I have taken to opening the door partially, and not telling her it is ok. While they are trying to talk to me, Jasmine is growling, and I can usually end the conversation very quickly by saying "so sorry about my dog, she really hates strangers", then I enjoy watching them scurry away in their silly little suits! I then close the door and give her a big treat! Of course Jasmine doesn't go through a door without permission, but they don't know that! I feel kind of guilty using my dog to scare people, but the visits have really been reduced recently, I think word is getting out in the religious community that I have a dangerous dog!

 

[SueM]

Don't feel guilty. My parents used to do something similar. They had the local mail route when I was growing up. If they saw solicitors from that group going around, they would stop home when the route took them passed the farm and turn our oldest Norwegian Elkhound lose. Just laying on the porch was enough to keep the group from stopping at our house. Little did they know that all they had to do was say, "Boo", and she'd high tail it for the barn to hide.

 

[Shandula]

There is a woman at the dog park with an English Mastiff who is SO sweet. She lives in a not-great part of town, so when she walks her and sees people that make her uncomfortable, she tightens her grip on the leash so it looks like she is fighting to control her. People usually cross the street to get away. I think everyone is a little guilty of using their dogs.

 

[StormyPeak]

HaHa get so excited when someone comes to the door he about loses his mind. I have a cowboy friend who's also a licensed appliance repairman. He trains horses and cattle dogs and if very confident around animals....but he came to my house the other day to fix my washing machine pump and actually took a step back when I opened the door holding onto HaHa's collar.

HaHa was lunging and barking....but only because he wanted to go lick and bump up against this new human in the house. Anyone not knowing this, yeah, it would be a bit scary. Once he took a second look, he could see if was just pure excitement on HaHa's part and he wasn't being aggressive at all. And since he just came off the ranch he had his riding chaps on, so he said to go ahead and let HaHa loose and not worry about him getting scratched. HaHa loved every second of the rib thumping and back scratches he got from the guy.

I worry more about HaHa scratching someone...he has a terrible habit of pawing when excited...and it has left me and my sister with welts and even drawn blood.

Due to his mental problem, I just haven't been able to teach him to 'settle' - so the only thing I can do is hold on to him until he calms down or put him in a bedroom and shut the door when someone comes over.

As mentioned by one of the poster's above...his excitement has been a good reason to avoid the Mormon and Jehovah missionaries/witnesses that knock on my door.

On a side note: I also wonder how they manage to time it at the worst possible moments. Twice, literally within minutes of me burying a pet, I've had the JWs knock on my door.

And both groups have interrupted my afternoon naps...that usually only last for like 1 1/2 hours. I have back pain and can't sleep at night for more than a few hours at a time, so that afternoon nap is really needed. But sometimes my nap will start at 1 pm or sometimes not until 4pm... it's never the same time....but it still manages to get interrupted.

My sister told me it's probably God's way of punishing me for being an atheist. lol.

Stormy