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. 
Living in the Seattle area, Smelly is a user experience designer by day, a running, cycling, gardening type of girl when she wasn't wearing the designer hat.
