Quote:
Originally Posted by AZYorkieDad  I've had her since Dec 8th, so almost 3 months. She was born on Oct 8th 2012. |
The reason I asked that is that some dogs don't begin to seriously guard their premises until they have taken ownership of it. Once a dog has been around long enough to think of his home as his very own territory, the territory where his own pack resides and his leader lives, he will begin to exhibit true guarding tendencies. Not just wild barking as they do many times when you get a new dog, barking to say to the world "hello, there" or "hey, I'm here" or "watch it, I'm new and I'm unsure" or barking at other critters. And some new dogs only bark for a day or so, if at all, at first, then go quiet - until the day they come to see their new home as their territory. From then on, things that don't seem right or might scare them such as wind or the smell of a cat outside, a stray dog in the yard, the dog next door whining or someone walking around outside, can be reasons to begin guarding. Or it can be as simple as someone blowing on an ultrasonic dog whistle, maybe a kid from a house or two away. But likely he's just taken over security for his territory. And a growl is a lot more serious response to a threat than is barking usually.