Saturday, March 23, 2019

The Power of a Dog Treat

We have a dog that lives in a fenced yard in the house behind us (we share an alley).  The owner is a nice young man who has a couple of little girls that he shares custody with his ex-wife, but the dog is VERY cranky to strangers.  It's a mixed breed, we thing predominately Chow and something but he's only about 30 pounds.  Sonny charges the fence growling aggressively and barking every time I took out the trash.

Then one day he got out when the little girls didn't secure the gate.  My husband, who was getting out of his car home from work just looked at him and said "Sonny?" very sternly and the dog started whining and backing away until finally, he slinked back into the yard.

He's a teddy bear in a mean dog outfit.  So last Monday I took the trash out.  He still did the charge the fence thing. Then I slowly approached.  He started backing away and I threw him a grain free peanut butter treat through the slats of the fence (I asked his owner first). The next time he only growled a little.  Today I got him to wag his tail at me before he got his two treats and he didn't bark at me as I walked back to our house.  Never underestimate the power of a treat.

9 comments:

  1. GRRRROWWWWL...BAAAARRRKKKK...WOOOOOOOOOF.......
    treat please! hello??
    Kisses,
    Ruby ♥

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  2. Hari OM
    Sonny was just guarding the house - until challenged! If that is a photo of Sonny up top, the markings suggest Bernese Mountain Dog... which also has a shaggy coat and stocky build, about the size of a labrador. YAM xx

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  3. You are right! And, I will say that your post reminds me of a line from the book, "Mostly Bob" by Tom Corwin, where says about Bob, that "I knew him all those years as the psycho-dog next door." His kindness changed that dogs life forever. I think yours may be doing the same thing as well.

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  4. Small treats can save the world from all sorts of mayhem. I always try to have some in my pockets whenever I leave the house. But I do need to remember to empty said pockets when doing laundry. ❤️

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  5. Good boy, Sonny. Our neigbors's two dogs have very mean-sounding barks too. One is actually very nice and lets Mom pet him. She gives them both treats too. But the other one is unpredictable. He has bitten a visitor to the neighbor on the other side, so Mom is much more cautious with him. He enjoys his treats so maybe one day he and Mom will figure it all out.

    Woos - Lightning, Misty, and Timbe

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  6. Yup! The power of yum yums. I wish our neighbors would try to make friends with Chester when they're out, so he wouldn't bark so much.

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  7. the power of treats is like the power of love somehow ;O) it wins.

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  8. Sounds like Sonny's barking cause he's scared. Treat = Friend. :)

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