My best friend’s dog is a beautiful, loving, fluffy boy who wags his tail incessantly and licks those he loves as much as he’s allowed. To know him is to love him. But if he doesn’t know you, watch out! He’s never bitten anyone, but his growl is very scary.
She lives in a duplex with her boyfriend, who also loves the dog. They take great care of him, and usually one of them is working from home, so the dog is well loved and rarely lonely. I’m over a lot, as is my boyfriend, so we make the cut.
Last month, they went away and we offered to watch the dog. I didn’t think it would be difficult as we know him so well. We brought him to our place, where he has been numerous times, and he was fine inside.
But each time we took him for a walk, he would growl and snarl at our neighbours. We told our friends all about it when they got back, but they brushed it off. Now they’ve asked us to look after him again, but we’re apprehensive based on his unpredictable behaviour.
We love our friends and want to help out, but we’re not comfortable saying yes. What do we do? My first thought is, could you say yes but stay at their house? That way the dog is in familiar surroundings both inside and out. From your description, he shouldn’t get growly at the neighbours as he should recognize them.
Obviously, I don’t know if that’s a possibility, but if it is, that’s one option. The other option is to just say no. You could come up with somewhere you need to be, giving yoursel.