OK, I'm embarrassed to say I was totally scammed in New York City last night <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> . I'll explain how but in the end, I'm looking for ideas on how to get my dog to NOT act friendly in the car when I need him to be NOT friendly. An on and off switch so to speak.

Last night my fiance and I were driving out of a Manhattan garage and just as we began to pull out onto the street a guy in a suit was coming toward us about 10' away, looked at our license plate and knocked on my window (passenger side). I rolled it down about 6" to hear him.

He said, "Could you help me? My white BMW is stuck down by the Lincoln Tunnel w/the hood up(too far away for us to see of course). I ran out of gas and my phone & briefcase & wallet are in my office. I live in __________ town".

Like a moron, I'm flabberghasted that we live in the same town and say, "Oh. We live there too. Where do you live?"

He says, "108 Orchard. I just moved there 6 mos. ago. Can you give me a few dollars to get gas and I'll restore your faith in mankind and buy you a couple of tickets for a Broadway play".

My fiance pulls out $15 and reaches across me to hand it to him thru the window. He takes it and sticks his arm in to shake my hand. I do. He leaves and goes in the OPPOSITE direction of his alleged car. That should have been our last clue but, no, it was our first. I felt suspicious and pointed out to my fiance that he's walking AWAY from his supposed car! Also, I just saw him counting the money which seemed odd to me. When you're desperate, you don't care if someone hands you $2. It'll make a phone call. I then punched his address into the navigation system in our car and, sure enough, there is no 108 on the street he named in our town!!

Loosing the money is not what bothered us. It's our gullability the second we heard our own town mentioned <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> !!

I've lived in this town for 35 years. In all that time, I can't recall ever once hearing someone say to me, "Oh, I live in ______________", especially in a city of more than 8,000,000 people!

So I was stupified when he said it and believed he had to live there! I know, just color me stupid.

I believe the scam involved the guys inside the garage who park our car. I think they went thru our car and found (yes, he leaves this crap in the car) a library card and about 20 other cards that tell you his name. I think the inside guys then find a random street in the town. I think when you're in your car pulling out, they call the outside guy on a cell and tell them, "get ready, here comes the black Mercedes (or whatever the hell car you drive) w/Jersey plates". I think the outside guy said his car was a BMW just to give us some "gee, I'm just like you guys" kind of feeling to get our guard down. God, we were so stupid.

Here's my question. Obviously anything can happen at anytime. I have my dog in the car w/me every day of the week. If I want him to turn on the aggressive barking when someone is approaching my car, like that jackass last night, how would you guys teach it?

Sorry for the long post.

You aren't a moron.

You aren't stupid.

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.... If I want him to turn on the aggressive barking when someone is approaching my car, like that jackass last night, how would you guys teach it?

Sorry for the long post.

Any chance you might be focused on the least important aspect here?

If you were suspicious and had not rolled down the window, but said loudly through the closed window, "Sorry, but my dog bites," it might have worked out just fine.

In fact, so would listening to the guy with window closed and offering to call Triple A, his office, or whoever, for him.

That would've ended the conversation, I betcha.

You can also train "bark" and "no bark."

Not sure how it would have helped here, because you would still have had to command the dog, and I think you were more in "roll down window and give money" mode........ <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Except for the "roll down window" part, nothing wrong with wanting to help! Hey, I've been there. <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> You were trying to help someone.

Just MHO; doesn't sound like you're looking for attack-dog info, and a big barking dog with an owner who acts fearful for the stranger's safety might be a handy thing.

Well, look at it this way. It only cost you $15 to learn about the scam! Besides, I think it's good that you're kind-hearted. You've still done a good deed no matter what the outcome was! I've been a victim of scams, too, and it makes me sad that I'm so cynical now. I'd rather help someone than assume they're a crook, but this is where the crooks have put us. Sad.

Anyway, about the dog thing: When my dog barked at someone ringing the doorbell or knocking, I always said "Whatzit?" (as in, What is it?).

I wasn't trying to train him for this, but as it turned out, now when I say "Whatzit?" he barks as he would if someone was at the door. This works even if I whisper it. Kinda cool.

I'm sure other people can give you more formal help, but that was my 2 cents!

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Well, look at it this way. It only cost you $15 to learn about the scam! Besides, I think it's good that you're kind-hearted. You've still done a good deed no matter what the outcome was! I've been a victim of scams, too, and it makes me sad that I'm so cynical now. I'd rather help someone than assume they're a crook, but this is where the crooks have put us. Sad.......

I'm with you. If I'm pretty convinced that the person needs and will benefit from my help, then the scammers I've experienced aren't going to dictate my actions.

Did you ever pick up a copy of, "City Dog", by Richard A. Wolters ???

I recommended it to you once before, especially because of its detailed instructions on 'alarm dog training' -- This is exactly what you need, IMHO, and you can borrow that book from most public libraries <:-)

It teaches you how to "mugger-proof" your dog by training him to perform an aggressive display when you give a secret/suble command (like clearing your throat, for example) -- It is NOT 'attack training' nor does it produce a PPD, so I believe it would fit your bill to perfection...

Judy,

If your dog is mature enough, you can do some defense training sessions in the car. Atleast you could have him tested to see if he's got what it takes. There's too much information on that subject to post on here, but I would recommend you get with someone who understands training in defense drive and drive thresholds.

Your dog may have a "high defense threshold", which means it takes a little more effort to get him to bark in a situation like that, so it might need to be brought out of him with realistic training scenarios just as you described.

Hi Judy. I've been sucked in by this same exact scam before, just under slightly different circumstances. A guy came to my door at our previous house one night with the same story - I ran out of gas at X location (too far to see, but close enough for a "walk" to be believable) - could you give me $20 for some gas? One of my dogs at the time (RIP Caesar) was barking like mad at the door the whole time. But I held my dog back, and gave the guy $20. Later I realized I was most likely scammed, but I tend to be a helping soul too.

If the guy actually had designs on entering my house, I'm sure my barking dog was a deterent. But like you - I opened the door a tad - enough to shove a $20 at him just like you did through your car window.

I suppose I'm trying to make some sort of point - I guess my point is (sadly) that you just can't trust anyone these days.

After that experience and shortly after we moved to the house where we currently live (same general neighborhood as the last house).... people were used to using our current yard as a shortcut, as it wasn't fenced in previous to us, and the house was not lived in for several years. Once we put the fence up, a guy who was obviously high or drunk or something climbed the new fence, and got cornered by 3 barking dogs. This was after dark, but once we heard the commotion we turned on the spotlights and grabbed the megaphone. The guy screamed "CALL OFF YOUR DOGS!!" LOL, Gary said back through the megaphone "WE CAN'T - THEY ARE NOT TRAINED!" You never saw someone scramble back over a fence so fast. <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Sadly, I have had to curb my urges to randomly help people who appear to be in need. While Gary and I both through our business and personally try to give back to the community, we have learned to do that through reputable channels. It's sad you can't trust random people, but IMO you can't.

I hope the "I can't call off my dogs - they are not trained" quip comes in handy for somebody here one day. <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Beth

Judy
I am sorry that you were taken advantage of, but like my wife says "education is expensive" I am glad that the situation wasn't worse like a car jacking.
As far as training the dog to protect in the car, I had my other GSD (koach) trained to to bark extremely aggressively on command. One day while in the car with my children we were approached by a panhandler. I saw him coming before he got to close. I looked into the back seat, said the comman and Koach jumped up and started scanning for the threat. When the panhandler saw the dog spring up, he used an expletive and RAN back to the median, never to bother me again. Just the site of the dog coming up was enough to deter him. I am sure that if he had heard Koach barking he would have soiled himself. But it was a simple, safe and effective way to keep the guy away from my children.

P.S. don't stop caring about those around you.....
it is what seperates us from the animals.

Terry