Dear Lou Lou,

Hi. My name is Izzy. I’m a small dog with a BIG bark—and sometimes a growl too. People always act surprised when they hear me because I’m little, but I have a lot to say!

Here’s my problem: I bark and growl at some dogs, but not all. I kind of just decide in the moment. If a dog looks at me weird or walks too close to my family, I go GRRRR and BARK BARK BARK! I have to protect Ziggy and Simone—they’re MY kids! I take that job very seriously. Even squirrels get growled at if they come too close.

But my humans keep saying, “Izzy, it’s okay,” or “Izzy, stop!” I don’t know… should I try to be calmer? Or is it okay to growl and bark when I feel protective?

Thanks for listening, Lou Lou. You give the best dog advice.

Wags and woofs,

Izzy 🐾

Dear Izzy

Aren’t humans weird?  They want you to be protective -especially of kids. And then when you do what we are wired to do   – they complain. Go figure.

There is something called ‘leash aggression”. Quite a few dogs won’t growl or bark at other dogs when they are off leash – like in a dog park. But on-leash they can get really fierce.  Your letter did not tell me about how you act off leash.   But this might be leash stuff.  When you are on-leash you are defending your space and the people in it and because the space is moving along, that makes us very nervous.  The other dog person is looking really freaked out, so your human can’t take the chance of letting you off leash just in case you go full wolf.  

So, you are wired to defend the herd. The kids are your herd.  So you bark.  Maybe ease up on the growling….that’s just showing off.  And when the kids tell you it’s ok, you can try to relax.  But we know that once we are on guard, we don’t relax right away.   

Remember, your humans have no idea of huge amount of  information you are processing when you get defensive. All the smells and postures that you sense.  They may know more about the other dog person, but you know way more than they do about the dog. 

So let them figure out if the person is dangerous. You are the dog expert.

LouLou