I guess I'm trying to gauge my knowledge of my dog and compare it to what you guys feel is knowledge of your dog.

Since you are all so astute and experienced, what better group of people to ask, "How well do you know your dog?" My example with the police was only that, an example. But it really made me sit up and take notice. Yikes, maybe I don't know my dog like I thought I did .

So, if you were told, "I'll give you $5,000 if you can accurately predict what your dog will do in ____ situation", would you suddenly feel nervous like you're not going to be able to hit the nail on the head and you'll loose this 5 grand or maybe you'd be thinking, "Oh, piece of cake", etc.

Again, new to your dog. It could be anything:

1) a lot of smoke in your house

2) Your long lost sister comes over after 20 years and brings her 5 very young, wild, screaming, running, unruly children in tow and your dog has never really been around kids before

3) boarding your dog

4) you bring your dog to an unknown area - doggie heaven where it's free to run like he/she has never run before - acres of fields - and your dog is suddenly, mistakenly off leash and free to run from you if he/she wanted. Add a strange distraction, maybe cows (if he/she has never seen them before) are in the field or whatever.

5) A wild parade where the people are wearing wild costumes that make the people gigantic in stature, you've seen them, just wild costumes and one approached your dog.

Just some examples but, thinking about your own dog, would you comfortably take that bet ?

In the scenerios mentioned Judy, #2 is the only one I'd have trouble with because the dog would never get a chance to worry about the screaming out of control kids. She'd be let out of her kennel and the kids thrown in and the gate locked! Make that padlocked.

Now, about that long lost sister. Hmmmmmmmm
Randy

#1-My dogs would probably spin in their crates and bark

#2-YIKES, my dogs would be crated and kenneled for fear of an accident. Fast and loud kicks them into drive, and I do not want to find out what they would do by the way they act when they see stuff like that.

#3-Have not ever and will not ever board my dogs.

#4-Well, I do use an e-collar since I know Jesea will take off after livestock, Rock would just want me to throw his ball.

#5-My dogs have all been in Parades and are good with all that stuff.

Boy, Judy, I've been sitting here thinking hard about if I could win that $5000 bet, trying to come up with scenarios in my head that would be new to him. Trying to predict how he would react to each of them. I came down to one pretty predictable reaction to any new scenario - bark and lunge and ask questions later.

Example: thunderstorms here are far in between and we had a doozie of a thunderstorm 2-3 weeks ago. Before that one it was many months since the last one. Any thunderstorm in the past was ignored by Lear. So that's what I would have predicted for future storms. But the doozie storm I mentioned wasn't ignored this time. Instead, Lear ran into the backyard barking his most ferocious bark, totally on the attack. (He hates anything or anyone coming onto his property, and I guess big noises are no different .)

The scenario Judy mentioned of the cattle in the field - I've always wondered what his reaction would be. Ditto for horses. He has surprised me in the past with different things; things that I thought would set him off and get him mad, but they didn't. But I would predict with cattle and horses that he would bark and lunge (don't want to think about attacking).

In fact I recently asked my trainer if in the near future he would be with me when introducing Lear to horses (not something I want to attempt on my own without an instructor right there), and I'm curious as heck to see what Lear's reaction will be - again, he might surprise me and be quite mellow about it. I'll try and remember to post his reaction, see if my prediction was right or not. After all, he is a "herding" breed and that inbred quality may give him a different reaction than I predict.

Edited to add that my trainer has experience with introducing dogs and horse.

Judy, I agree with the others that it seems Gunnar views you as a good pack leader and doesn't have to make those decisions for you when you're around. He doesn't do anything when people come over to your house or ring the doorbell, but would he be the same way if he picked up on the fact that you were really scared or nervous about a stranger coming over? I can't answer that of course, but it's not outside the realm of possibility.

As for what Carbon would do in all those situations...I'm not really sure. He sure has a lot of bravado, but while he looks like a huge scary hunk of GSD...it's not lost on me that he's still only 16 months old. He's only just this month started to want to mark on things on walks. So who knows? He's got a loud, deep and impressive bark when people act like their up to no good around our property...but what would he really do if they tried to come in? Shrug...I don't really know.

But so far, I'm happy with his performance.

The Corgi, on the other hand...emits a high-pitched howly-bark that will annoy any bad guy to death, I'm sure. Seriously, he likes to "alert" us to anything. Sometimes I think he hears the mice crawling in our neighbor's basement or something.

At least Carbon only barks for a reason. The Corgi is not to be trusted.

I dont know if I could correctly gauge Buster reaction, like you, he suprised me the other day when I was out on my bike and he stood between me and a couple of strange men and barked. maybe he sensed that I wasnt able to protect myself just then..I dont know but I was shocked because he LOVES people and would not only invite Satan in, but probably run away with him afterwards.

Gypsy, If its human; she likes it doesnt matter about constumes (she'd make a great therapy dog) if its animal; KILL IT!!! if its object; she probably wont take any notice of it.
I have been wrong about Lady once, but Im sure that I know what her reaction will be; shes really reasonable and please, dont stone me, but Id trust her in any situation. Id trust her with kids, in fact she'd probably be better at keeping them in line than there own parents, without any fear of her hurting them or breaking there skin. Unfortunatly, I dont trust kids...or people so I just keep her to myself.
I'll take the $5K question....

 Quote: amber morgan

Judy, I agree with the others that it seems Gunnar views you as a good pack leader and doesn't have to make those decisions for you when you're around. He doesn't do anything when people come over to your house or ring the doorbell...

Ditto. And I think this is a good position to be in - you have a dog who has a great capacity to be friendly and well mannered, at the same time, he knows when he needs to step up and will at least attempt to play protector if he knows he has no back-up (I say "play" because, as we all know, there is little way of knowing for SURE what extent his actions are real, or for show, until he's faced with an actual threatening situation... which hopefully won't be anytime soon, if ever!)

 Quote: amber morgan

but would he be the same way if he picked up on the fact that you were really scared or nervous about a stranger coming over? I can't answer that of course, but it's not outside the realm of possibility.

For those of us with dogs who are, for the most part, companions, I think this part plays a bigger role than you think. I know for a fact that my dog relies heavily on my emotions/feelings and can tell when I'm comfortable in a situation, or not. I have learned to keep up a very calm state of mind when I'm walking with him for this reason - to keep him in content pack-follower land, but if I'm nervous in the house, he knows and he goes into a higher state of alert. There's no way to be certain, of course, but I'd put money on Oscar acting defensively if I were ever threatened in such a way that made me physically fearful (someone breaks into our house, tries to attack me at the front door, or when we're in the front yard... etc.). I also know, given Oscar's personality and breed, he would most likely "act" by barking loud, lunging, and jumping up onto the aggressor to actually push them away. He's not a biter, and while he has plenty of big teeth that he would happily use on another dog, it would take a pretty severe threat for him to turn his mouth on a human (he's very fond of using just enough conservative force to make a statement, without going over the top... I actually love that about him. )

There have been 2 occasions where Oscar has acted in what I would call a very calm, protective mode that really surprised (and pleased me). On 2 separate nights, about a year apart, he picked up on something in our apartment building that I did not, something that made him anxious (noise or smell, or both). He kept his eyes on the door (we actually had a second entrance in our bedroom, but we never used it) and wouldn't settle. I even poked my head out into the hallway at some point to check - saw nothing. Oscar's bed was at the foot of our bed, and the door was on one side of both, with maybe 4 feet in between. On those 2 separate nights, instead of retreating to the foot of our bed when it was time to go to sleep, Oscar positioned himself in the narrow space between our bed (and my SIDE of the bed, specifically) and the door - he even faced the door. He sat quietly for a while, inches from me, just staring, and then he actually laid down right there next to me to go to sleep. It actually freaked me right out, because I knew he knew something I didn't...

In the morning (of each incident) when we got up to go for our morning walk, we discovered a person sleeping on the second floor landing (our apartment was on floor 3). A man the first time, and a young woman the second. Neither were outwardly threatening, but they were strangers (clearly homeless), and must have filled the hallway with new scents, and probably inaudible (to me) noise, all night. Oscar scared the pants of the young man (whom he awoke by charging and barking in the biggest, loudest voice he could possibly muster... I've never seen a sleeping person jump up so quickly :blush, but I was awfully glad he was with me... I will mention my boyfriend was away both of these nights, and I was one of only 2 tenants in the whole 3 story building, at the time.

There will always be unpredictably unique situations - you can only prepare for what you can think of, and the rest is up to chance. A trained dog, I would hope, would be a bit more predictable, but they're individuals just like us, and sometimes they do unexpected things.

As far as my understanding of my dog's OTHER reactions:
Oscar, I know, is a bit wary of horses and livestock. He'll keep his distance and try to sort of nudge me away if I get to close to a fence line with animals just behind it. Don't know what he'd do if a COW attacked me, but whatever it was, it'd probably be from a distance .

Smoke, I know, makes him edgy. Have no clue how he'd deal with a house fire, but the stovetop dinner disasters we've had (and the smoke alarm in particular) have really sent him nervously pacing around and crying. I think he'd wake us up if were were sleeping, but if he were alone in a house fire, I'm not confident in his ability to call 911...

Now, lets say I'm unconscious and the police arrive at our house to help and Oscar meets them at the door... I have a hunch he'd bark and lunge, but if they were persistently friendly and calm with him, they could probably talk him down enough to get to me (he's a hound - LOUD for sure, but not menacing, no teeth baring grimaces and snarls). But gosh, that's a toughy, because then they'd check my vitals and probably pick me up, and he might have an issue with them touching me...

Good questions Judy! Most of the answers can really just be speculation, without having ever encountered some of these situations, but it's a good thinking game! (not sure I'd wager anything over $20 though... my pockets just aren't that deep )

~Natalya

My dog will behave himself when he's out with me. He's friendly with kids, women, and anyone he knows. He's more guarded with strange men...especially strange men on our property. He's very territorial and kicks up an impressive stink when a car or person shows up at our home.

Bravado or the real deal...I don't know? All bets are off when it comes to our home and there's enough doubt in my mind that I'd never open the door and let him free to test it.

Interestingly, I had to rent a car recently and when I pulled up I could hear True in his crate giving his serious "stranger alert" bark. Since he couldn't see it was me I decided to hide and bang on the windows, rattle the door knob, and kick the door. He was clearly pissed and I was very pleased.

oh gracious! would I have to pay 5,000 if I lost? lemme rethink this, Id have to get a loan....

I would take that Bet!

I purposefully raise my dogs so that there are very very few unknowns to them, and to me so that I know what they can and handle and cant. I trust both of them in nearly any situation, I do know that they are dogs but I generally also think that they will be more reasonable and better behaved than most humans we are in contact with.
Loki is full of bravado and has a really really deep loud bark that startles even me, he is a hound and sounds like one. He also alerts me to all sorts of things, something I think might be partially breed related since coonhounds and treeing walkers (and possibly black mouth curs?) are often used to tree or corner prey and then alert the hunters.

A lot of smoke in the house would be a true unknown for them but I can reasonably think that if we were home they would come first to us both to alert and for help.
If we werent home I would assume they would get outside through the dog door or other means in order to get to breathable air.


I trust both Nico and Loki to be tolerant of all non aggressive people and especially children. Nico ignores them for the most part and Loki adores children and he prefers their company to adults. He is very gentle and with a toddler or baby he will lay down and belly crawl ever so calmly up to them and let them do what they will while loving every minute of it.

They are both reliable off leash in nearly every situation, This has been tested extensively with both of them.
Loki is getting more and more reliable off leash and would be fine in an open space off leash.

They think horses are really big aloof dogs and act accordingly.
Cows are of no interest and goats are to be steared clear of, both do apparently have yummy poop though

Baby kittens and Chi size dogs are endlessly fascinating to Nico and she will spend hours staring at them, it was disconcerting at first because she seemed so focused and I was worried she would gobble them up at any second, but she only wants to watch. She will however try to mother kittens if given the chance!

crowds costumes and parades are no issue for either of them.

The pup is too young and too unpredictable at this age to know, but I do know as a husky he will more than likely never be off leash in an open area and precautions will be taken to avoid this.