Burglars, your dog treats will not make every canine love you
One upside of having a dog who is not immediately friendly to strangers
On my daily Google Tasks to-do list, there are 11 actions that must happen each day before I go to sleep. One of them is “laugh/smile at something today.” Clearly, that’s not as important as me checking Google Trends for employment needs or doing multiple sets of bicep curls with my 25-pound weights for my physical health, but the mandatory laugh is just as important for my mental health.
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And I had a good, long laugh at ADT’s article about preventing burglaries, specifically this line: “A survey of 86 burglars revealed that home invaders typically don’t like dogs. One way to thwart the loud barking of a pup is by having dog treats on hand. A savvy burglar may line his pockets with dog treats to quiet your pup in a pinch.”
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I wiped away tears thinking of some of the dogs I’ve walked on Wag! (and Rover). This dog trick idea would never work on them.
First, dogs can sense fear. Someone with cynophobia (fear of dogs) is going to get their attention immediately. Not only will they smell chemical changes like adrenaline from sweat and a human’s breath, but they’ll also pick up on tense tones, rigid standing and looking way too long into a dog’s eyes. It’s something I have to consciously remind myself of when I carelessly open the door to greet Amazon and food delivery people, and nosy Junee hops up on the couch to see over my shoulder or pokes her head between my legs. (At least three delivery drivers have backed up, and I have apologized profusely.)
Recommended Read: “Pros and cons of your dog matching your energy around strangers ~ A hard lesson I learned about repetition and curbside pickups with pets”
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Second, quietly as it’s kept, too often people worry about the wrong dogs. Two weeks ago, I leaped back after a neighbor’s Pit Bull/Boxer mix licked the lip gloss off my face before I could catch her. I also remember a Schnoodle who tried to bite me when I briefly picked her up since she was scared of water sprinklers and refused to walk. Then, there was the Jack Russell Mix who sized me up for more than 10 minutes before agreeing to let me put a collar on her, and this was after she suspiciously took a treat from me. In all three cases, these dogs ended up being friendly with me, but this would’ve been a rough interaction if I didn’t like dogs already.
Recommended Read: “Is a dog alarm a sufficient burglar deterrent if you don’t have a dog? ~ Should pet owners stop crating their dogs if they want to keep their homes safe?”
I read these stories all the time about how people (too often those who don’t like dogs or aren’t around them much) think dogs on TV sitcoms and movies are like dogs in real life. People often underestimate the Napoleon complex that small dogs have. They also underestimate how aloof or territorial some dog breeds are, including Akitas, Chow Chows, Dachshunds and Shar Peis. German Shepherds may be well-known as police dogs, but they’re not the only breed that doesn’t play any games.
And a thief can put all the dog treats (and raw meat) that fit in a pants pocket. I can assure you that some dogs of any size will still treat a human stranger like a trespassing dog and will bark their heads off louder than any house alarm. And should the burglar still feel lucky, then there’s the matter of dog training.