Mary,

 Quote: michele mcatee

My instinct told me on the first occasion with the alert bark that *something* was up...Cato's sharpness directed at my son entering the house was immediately, to me, a red flag. Why would he "go off" on my son, who was in clear view? Enough of a question in my mind, but I did platz the dog, he did comply and life went on...

...until the 2nd occasion when Cato was coming into the house, my son sitting in a chair across the room. Cato went off, and lunged. I instinctively told the dog to sit, which he did not and then DD collar was "activated" and then he was fine.

I questioned MY ability to handle this new behaviour from my dog. I questioned my instant actions, (ie: telling dog to sit instead of correcting the he@$ out of him) as in Cato's mind, he was likely corrected for not sitting...

I do not know the exact reason Cato lit up on my son on those 2 occasions. Interactions with my son were always supervised and my son and Cato got along very well. (late evenings would lay together watching t.v. etc...again, supervised and their interactions positive)

I did, this morning, wonder, if that first time, when my son came in the back door, if I thought to myself "oh, crap they are home" as a knee jerk thought at my alone time with Cato being over.

If I did think this, I was unaware of it at that time, but yes, when my alone time is over, *sometimes* it's a quick thought of "oh man...back to reality!" I hope that makes sense--alone time is a treasured time for me--but Cato and I had been out on a nice long walk, and had been home together for about 40 mins or so, he was laying at my feet. What *if* I did think that for a moment, and what *if* Cato lit up due to that thought? Just brainstorming. Both situations were outside our normal daily routine.

Or rank stuff...Cato was just over a year old. ?

It was also pointed out to me that I was maybe misreading Cato, that he could have excited. I think he would have had ears back and tail wags like other times family members came in...not continued alert barking even after my son was in full view. He was barking as if my son were a stranger.

Oh, to add, I am by no means by my last post 2nd guessing anything. I do not know with 100% certainty the why's of Cato's behavior with my son.

I know without a doubt I did the right thing and Jason too...Cato will go on to do good (great) things with the right person, no doubt there either.

I'd like to give Michele some props here - I saw some of the vidoes that Jason recently took of Cato , and it's obvious that Michele put some fine effort into that dog's obedience and exposure to difficult terrain, etc.

So....nice job, Michele, I wish you the best on your next dog and if you put the time and love into it that you did Cato, I'll bet you end up with a nicely trained dog.

Thanks, guys I am by no means questioning the decision. I only ask because when I read it I had deja vu, I friend of mine has a dog (also a shepherd) that barks at certain family members who live under the same roof. nothing is thought of it though, because the dog would never bite the kid (assumtion, yes, but its not really likely) the dog doesnt really mean business when it barks at the kid (a young teenager), and I figured it had to do with rank issues, and lack of clear pack structure.

Does anyone know for sure what that would be a sign of? It didnt really seem territorial to me but I could be wrong. I dont think that the kid has ever treated the dog badly.

 Quote: mary roach

friend of mine has a dog (also a shepherd) that barks at certain family members who live under the same roof. nothing is thought of it though,

The sheer fact that "nothing is thought of it" may be the most important thing about what you've shared. The dog barks, nothing happens, and he doesn't do anything else. The family doesn't care, so, such is life with that dog.

A LOT of variables as to why the dog barks at their son.

 Quote: Mary Roach

Thanks, guys I
Does anyone know for sure what that would be a sign of? It didnt really seem territorial to me but I could be wrong. I dont think that the kid has ever treated the dog badly.

Mary, have you been there to witness this type of barking? (as Michele stated above, there are a lot of variables as to why a dog would bark at a kid)

My pup has barked one time at my 6 year old like what Michele described, and I think that left unchecked, this type of behavior could lead to some real problems, and maybe even a bite. IMO this is tied to rank issues.(in our case, anyway)

I'm not going to go into details about what prompted the bark, but suffice it to say that it was my fault, and it won't happen again.



Edited by Lynne Barrows (04/15/2008 08:03 AM)
Edit reason: changed wording