Sam truly is a mellow dog. She is sweet and quiet most of the time. Easygoing. Rarely hyper or overly excited. (Except, of course, when we come home from being gone five minutes or eight hours. It doesn’t matter. Regardless of the time passed, she runs around for several minutes, bringing toys and socks and delight in our presence.)
But there are certain things that seem to always shake her up, no matter what; things that regularly produce a bark or a snarl.
1, The mailman. Can’t stand him. Stands on her chair at the window and barks her head off as she watches him deliver the mail to our front door box.
2. The next door neighbor’s car. It’s a little thing. Like a Tic-Tac. When he arrives home and backs his car into his driveway, Sam snaps. She barks and growls at the front door and as he moves his car past our house, she runs to the backdoor and growls again as he disappears into his garage. I have no idea what’s going on here.
3. People walking their dogs past the front window. But not all people and not all dogs. Mostly this produces a low growl. But certain people and certain dogs—nothing. She just follows them with her eyes.
She has never cowered at fireworks. Never chased a car. Never took off after a cat. Occasionally she’ll lunge at a squirrel, but never puts a ton of effort into this. What I am saying here, is that Sam is selective about what annoys her. And isn’t that kind of like us all? For me, it’s people who don’t turn on red, just sit there as if they have fallen asleep. I don’t bark or snarl, but it does really annoy me.
Our dogs can be very much like us. Sometimes certain things on certain days just rub us the wrong way.
Walks With Sam 