I’ve been curious to see how Hershey would react to strangers. It’s not like we’re running into tons of unknown folks on our dashes outdoors in the tundra. We’re not going for laps around the block bumping into people. We did take her over to the neighbors and she was great with everyone. So sweet, in fact, they’re thinking about getting a lab puppy. (I should invite them over for the day. They might change their minds!)
But in that case, it was us visiting their turf. I’ve been very interested to see what Hershey would do when a stranger came calling to our house. We’ve had lots of friends and family come over, and Hershey is always over the moon to see them. (If she’s ever doggie-napped, I’m going to check out my mom’s house. My mother adores this dog, and Hershey cries and scratches at the door when she leaves.)
So far, Hershey hasn’t barked or gone wild when the doorbell rings like some dogs do. That’s great big news for my family. My brother and his family have 3 dogs that all come bounding for the door jumping and barking. My kids stand at the curb terrified until the doggies settle down. (No one will ever, ever break into their home.) So we definitely didn’t want a repeat scene at our house.
But then a stranger showed up at our door the other day. When I opened the kitchen door to walk through our breezeway to the backdoor, she slipped out and followed me. How was she going to react? Was she going to go all protective on me and bark or growl at the stranger?
Oh no. She wanted to get outside and play with him. She was happy to see him, and for all I knew he was some murderer who rings before he comes in. (He wasn’t. He was collecting food for a food drive.) But still, I thought all dogs were part watch dogs. It’s not like I want her barking every time someone walks by outside like some dogs do, but I was feeling a little reassured knowing we have a dog in the house now, in case anyone ever mistakenly breaks in thinking we have something worth stealing. Hershey would probably help them get in, in the hopes they’d give her a treat!
I’m certainly not going to teach her to be aggressive around strangers. I guess she’ll just be our own little hostess, welcoming folks to our abode. But what about dogs? How is she going to react to other dogs? There’s a dog that lives across the street who barks whenever it sees Hershey. Poor Hershey just looks at the dog, like What gives? I’m just out here doing my business trying to earn extra treats by prolonging the whole thing. Why the nasty bark?
My sister in law brought her puppy over to visit Hershey (I think we were breaking some safe puppy rules there, but we wanted to see if they liked each other.) And what did my darling little doggie girl do? She rolled over on her back and exposed herself. Nice, right? Doing her Mama proud. My sister-in-law informed me it had something to do with dominance, but still, I couldn’t resist rolling her over and closing her legs! Play hard to get Hershey. So I’m quite interested to see how Hershey will be with the other dogs on the block, or at the park.
But there’s one stranger she still has to meet: our vet. I wasn’t there when the breeders took her for her first visit. And the next checkup is due soon. Sweet little Hershey might not be so friendly, then.
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Have you missed any of the articles in this series?
If so, you can find them at:
The Bringing Up Puppy Series page.
Related posts:
- Bringing Up Puppy Series – The Worst Lab
- Bringing Up Puppy Series – Who is the Boss?
- Bringing Up Puppy Series – Holding Tight
- Bringing Up Puppy Series – Fairy Dog Mother – Part 2
- Bringing Up Puppy Series – A Love Hate Thing
