April 20, 2007

Dear Labby,

My puppy raiser, Marianne, gets a magazine called BARk (which makes her laugh lots -- it must have funny stories in it.) Anyhow, I get reprimanded when I bark, and she says, "It's not your job." Why not? Isn't barking a part of being a dog? And how come the keeper dogs get to bark so much? I have things to say too!

Chow for Now,

Hudson

Dear Hudson, Thanks for letting me use The DogBlog to answer questions!

Barking is complicated. Some dogs bark to alert their families to danger ("Intruder! Mailman! Scary squirrel!") Other dogs bark to talk to their friends in the neighborhood ("Hi, I'm Fang and I'm playing with a ball!") Some small, nervous dogs bark just because they can ("I'm three pounds of fluff and no brain but I have a shrill voice!") Sorry, that was doggist of me. Ahem.

Hudson, old buddy, your job is to learn to help someone with a disability. Nonstop BARKBARKBARKBARKBARK for a CCI dog means "My partner needs help right now!" SPEAK is a very important CCI command for you, and not for frivolous stuff like "Gimme another cookie!" "UPS truck going by!" and "Yikes, snake on the deck!" Leave that nonsense to the silly keeper dogs.

Hey, you should go to the LoDo Tattered Cover at 7:30 tonight for a book signing by Marcie Davis. Her new book is called "Working Like Dogs: The Service Dog Guidebook." See you there! Love, Labby

www.cci.org

www.tatteredcover.com

www.thebark.com