Yesterday as Bishop and I walked in the park, a small (unsupervised) child started running after us. Bishop barked, of course, and seemed a bit more hostile than he usually is around children. The tail was not wagging. I tugged on the leash and kept walking, but the kid kept racing toward us. Finally his older sister noticed and came running after him before he reached us, but I was concerned. Bishop normally loves kids–he barks, but in a friendly, happy way, not an aggressive way.

Earlier today, we were out on the patio and the next-door neighbor came over. He hadn’t actually met Bishop before, but knows his name from conversations I’ve had with him and his wife. So he started petting and talking to Bishop, who was fine at first and then suddenly lunged and started barking furiously. I had no idea why, and I was kind of alarmed. He used to like people.

Awhile ago, I went into my room to get socks so I could take him for a walk. Zuli raced into my room, which is normally a no-cat zone. I picked her up and she struggled. This has happened a dozen times before. I mean, she’s a cat. The room is forbidden. You do the math. And then, as we stepped into the hallway, she hauled back and swiped me across the face with her claws out! She’s never done anything like that before. She drew a deep, jagged zig-zag right between my eyebrows and would have clipped my eye if I hadn’t instinctively blinked.

So the cut starts bleeding profusely. Bishop is dolphin-leaping around with excitement over the walk, and if I have to wait until the bleeding stops I’ll also have to deal with a disappointed dog. But I can’t really go out in public with blood bubbling out of my face either. So I slap a band-aid on–looks really awesome between my eyebrows and running down my nose–and take him and the trash out.

Which turned out to be a bad idea because the woman upstairs who also has a large black dog had chosen that moment to take her dog out too. And guess which one stood quietly and obediently and which one barked and jumped and tried to pull out of his collar and harness, causing his overburdened person to drop the trash bags until she could get him under control? Oh yeah, his person with the big dark band-aid (because all I have are camo-patterned band-aids) in the middle of her face.

He’s a brat. He needs better socialization, but how and with whom and where?! We’ve been through obedience training. I don’t know what else to do.

EDIT, 3:45 a.m.: I’ve found a new approach that may work with the barking (and, I hope, with the panic and aggression that I think are a direct result from all the chaos he reacts to outside). Bob, our beloved trainer in Savannah, talked about teaching his dog to step behind him when they encountered other dogs that seemed hostile; the concept was “Dad [Bob’s term, not mine; I’m not Bishop’s mom] has this covered, so I don’t need to worry about it.” So I thought maybe it would be worth trying something similar with Bishop.

A little while ago, he started growling because he heard our next-door neighbor leave for work. Before he freaked out, I calmly said, “I think that’s just [neighbor] heading out,” and then I got up, went to the door, and looked out the peephole. During all this, Bishop was quiet. “Yep,” I said, “just him, nothing to worry about.” Bishop rolled over onto his back for a belly rub, and I scratched him until I heard the neighbor’s car drive away. All quiet, calm, uneventful. So maybe when he freaks out at the sliding glass door, I need to just go look out, see what it is, and reassure him. It’s worth trying, at least, as nothing else has worked. It’s just going to take effort on my part; I am not always so good at dealing gracefully with interruptions.

EDIT, 5 p.m. the next day: I’ve continued to do this and we’ve had the calmest day we’ve had in a long time. I was deluged from all sides with the caution that you don’t baby your dog when he barks, because that’s positive reinforcement and it encourages him to keep doing it. I think I confused babying him with being calm and soothing, and being brusque with being in charge. So I got tense and scolded (sometimes yelled at) him and it escalated. I’ve only needed to actually look outside a couple times. So far, as soon as he growls and the hair starts to bristle, I tell him calmly that it’s just a neighbor; he’s a good dog for letting me know there’s someone outside, but they’re not a threat so he can stand down. And for the most part, he rolls over for a belly rub and doesn’t even bark. I did have to get up and look outside for the yard guy, but compared to Bishop’s usual frenzy when the lawn mower goes back and forth past the sliding glass door, it was pretty mild. He’s also been more mellow and controllable when we’ve gone out for potty breaks, so I’m hoping this approach will help settle him. We’ll see how he does on his walk pretty soon….

And I have a still red, although less vivid, zig-zag connecting my eyebrows yet, of course. At least the need for the large, conspicuous band-aid is gone.