[yorkietalkjilly]

Tibbe is a wonderful watch dog and doesn't just bark at just anything he hears - unless it is an unusual noise, especially during the night. If it's a car driving down the street or the house creaking, he won't bark but if he hears something unusual or out-of-the-ordinary, he goes crazy barking his head off. Sometimes he barks at something I never even heard but I can tell from his reaction, he heard or smelled something he didn't deem part of our neighborhood's usual sounds or scents and he thought it was his duty to alert the world at large! Any burglar who thought he might just be able to quietly break in here during the night would be sorely disappointed if he made ANY noise in his attempt to get in as Tibbe would hear it or smell him and go ballistic!

My nextdoor neighbor lets Tibbe's best buddy, Rusty, a Corgi, out every day at varying times through the day and evening and though I hear nothing at all when she does let him out, Tibbe begins to whine and paw at me, then jumping down and going in circles and absolutely begging me to let him outside to play with Rusty along the fence! He must smell him and know he's out there because I can't fool him and ask him if he wants to see Rusty when Rusty really isn't outside and get any rise out of him. He just stares blankly at me when I'm foolin' with him! He honestly knows when Rusty is outside or not and reacts accordingly but never reacts when I'm trying to put one over on him.

So, I trust his nose and his hearing, which he seems especially keyed in to after dark and particularly after bedtime, and know that he will only alert and bark if he senses something unusual or different is happening and then he's a noisy barking machine, running to the door or nearest window to whatever it is and going crazy barking until I check it out.

The other night it sounded like something bumped against the front of the house and it woke me where I'd fallen asleep on the den couch and it apparently woke a sound-asleep Tibbe, who roused up and growled, looked at me still waking up and when the bump came again in another 5 seconds, he went nutso crazy, jumping off the couch and running into the living room and sniffing the crack between the door and the door jamb and having a wild, screaming, barking fit, running around the living room and den and back to that crack in the door!