Barking Dog

“If your dog doesn’t like someone, you probably shouldn’t either.”
—Unknown

I am blind and Hercules is my Black Labrador guide dog. When I received Hercules in June 2015, he was fully trained. However, in addition to training him to guide a blind person, stop for curbs, stairways and obstacles, they had also taught him to pee like a girl and not to bark.

Hercules had not lost his barker, it was just that, unlike most dogs, he did not bark when a stranger came to the door or when he met another dog. About once every couple of months he will let out a single “wolf” but that is it.

Hercules sleeps locked in a wire kennel at the foot of my bed so I could hardly believe my ears when, in the summer of 2016, he started barking like a real dog. It was 3 o'clock in the morning so I staggered out of bed, unlocked his kennel and he streaked into the living room. I staggered after him and my eyesight was good enough that I could see that both the refrigerator and freezer doors were open on our side-by-side unit. Immediately I realized the problem. We had been invaded by an Aspen black bear and my hero, Hercules, had scared him off. I let Herc sleep on my bed the rest of the night.

In the morning, my daughter came by to assess the damage. Other than muddy bear prints on the floor and the shelves of the refrigerator there was none. I had left the sliding glass door to our patio open but closed the screen for fresh air and to hear the sound of the river. The bear had politely opened the screen for entry and all that was stolen was one carton of cottage cheese. I considered us lucky and Hercules a hero because many of our friends, including my daughter, had suffered substantial damage from bear invasions.

The next summer there was a repeat incident at 1:30 in the morning. I realize that I had been crazy to let Hercules loose on the bear because, if he had been cornered, the bear could easily have killed the dog. So, instead of releasing Herc, I stormed into the living room shouting to scare the bear away.

Imagine my surprise when a male voice answers, “What's the problem?”

I thought I had a burglar, but it was just a visitor who, while not obviously intoxicated, must have been high on something. We had a semi-civilized conversation for a few minutes, and he left quietly when I said I was going to call the police. I did and it is interesting that when the policeman arrived 15 minutes later Hercules did not make a sound. He can apparently tell the difference between the good guys and uninvited guests. I wonder if they taught him that at guide dog school.