BlaringSmelly

Lately, Mango develops an annoying behavior. He growls and barks at the smallest rustle outside the house. We tried to stop him using time out method. Either he is stubborn or not too bright, the progress is slow.

Last week we had a guest over. He met Mango when he was just a wee pup so he was no stranger. But Mango was very unfriendly toward him. The barking continued even after we gave Mango time out. Usually Mango calms down as soon as he is in his crate but not this time. Ktula gave our guest some treats to give it to Mango. Mango refused to take any from him and remained tense the entire time he was here.

Mango’s behavior had us worry. We want to find out if he is behaving this way to everybody visiting the house. So over the weekend we asked ktula’s sister and her fiancé James over. Mango doesn’t know James. This could get interesting.

We asked Paul’s sister to come in first. To our biggest fear, Mango was barking at her. Moments later, James came in. I didn’t see what happened exactly. Mango was alert at first, but warmed up to James in matter of minutes. After that, Mango was back to his normal self and was quiet as a mouse. Mango bugged James to play fetch with him the entire time.

What a huge relief knowing Mango is not hostile to all our guests. Next, we need to figure out what’s causing him to act nervously. Never did I foresee Mango would become territorial and protective of us. I guess this is kind of like raising a kid. You do the best you can and pray the kid would turn out ok. Oh~ the joy of parenthood.

Today started like any weekday. Little did I know today would turn out to be one of those days that things just don’t go the right way.

I came back around 2pm to take Mango to his afternoon walk. Mango chose a nice grassy area to poop. After he was done, I reached into the bag only to find I used up the last poo bag this morning. Realizing I had nothing to scoop Mango’s poo, I felt like one of those dog owners I hated so much for not picking up after their pets. Walking away from the crime scene, I was embarrassed as hell. After quickly taking Mango home, I returned to clean up. Picking up cold poo is so much worse than picking up fresh warm ones.

After work, I took Mango to Seattle Center. Maybe it was the evening traffic noise or the stormy weather, Mango was quite jumpy and nervous to follow me. Half dragging and half pulling, I managed to get close to Seattle Center before Mango’s collar suddenly snapped open. Mango was loose and he took off running away from me.

Holding on the other end of the leash, I couldn’t believe what just happened. Horrible thoughts flashed through my mind of Mango being lost for good, Mango being hit by car, or Mango becoming a stray dog. My first reaction was to chase after him. Then I remembered there’s no way I could out run him. Out of desperation, I squatted down and made a cheerful call. At this point, Mango was already half a block away. Amazingly, he heard my call and stopped running. I yelled out “Mango come!” and started cheering like I was having so much fun with him. To my relief, Mango put on his smiley face and started running back to me like he would do during our recall exercises.

After securing his collar, I was kissing and hugging Mango regardless of passerby’s strange looks. Holy cow, that was too close a call. I was so thankful he responded to my call. I recalled Diane stressed the importance of recall exercise. Diane was right. I can not imagine what’s going to happen if it wasn’t for the training. I’m so proud of my little guy.

Mango’s last training session took place at Everest Park in Kirkland.

We arrived early and as far as we could tell, nobody was around. Ktula and I started monkey around in the parking lot while waiting for Diane and Hana’s parents to show up.

It was a typical fall weather, the air is crisp and a bit chilly with plenty of sun. The leaves on the parking lot trees turned into flaming red. Against the clear blue sky, the sight was quite mesmerizing. I snapped some awesome fall tree shots. When I had enough fun taking pictures, I realized I’ve lost rack of ktula and Mango.

Turned out they found Diane and Hana’s parents at the other end of the park. Mango and Hana had a bit of sibling rivalry fun. Diane brought alone a 6-month old golden retriever Navi. Mango and Navi played hard. They worn each other out nicely and had a great time.

Mango has officially graduated from Diane’s second puppy training. Thanks to Diane, we had a great start. Ktula and I will carry on with his training.