[VINPELA]

Good thread. I was actually going to start one about it today too, mine's a little different so I'll do that still. Puck has mellowed out but he does still bark at new things. He has the exact same bark for a new thing 'person' walking by as he does for a new thing 'item' that I put on my floor just to get him to check out that items can appear and disappear and they are not scary. It's sort of a grunt/bark/choking/hairball noise.

I've never heard anything like it and he only does it at a new thing. The other day I put an empty paper soda box on the kitchen floor and he approached it and umphed at it, circled it umphing, I moved it he umphed and after a while he got up the courage to touch it with his nose and I treated and let him play some tug and then moved on to something else, I think a cup, then a pillow, then a flashlight, etc. This is all stuff I've been doing since he was tiny but I continue it with new stuff a few times a week.

Today I noticed he made the same umph at a couple walking by before he went to the end of his leash wagging his whole body sideways trying to love them up which made me think about it and what he must be thinking. I think he definitely is a little uncertain of new things but he's a pup still and I do think that with the work I've put in over the past few weeks he has stopped the crazy barking he did at three or four people and just began umphing to let me know there is a thing that wasn't there.

I also think any dog should be allowed to bark at things that don't belong as long as that bark doesn't turn into a snarl, or a lunge with teeth. I know I over react when it comes to puppies showing instability and especially with bull dog breeds because of the brainwashing I've received and thinking they need to be the perfect ambassador. Well they aren't ambassadors, they are dogs...