Since Kodiak was a young puppy, he's demonstrated an ability to sense whether someone is a 'threat' or not. If he doesn't trust someone, he barks, won't get close to them, won't let them get close to me. He makes quite a production until the individual is out of the house.I've seen him do this in the past with three individuals. The first was a 'technician' for the provider who was to service my power chair. The man couldn't come into the house without Kodiak just losing his mind, barking, snapping at the man, being keen to stay between the man and I. He even barked and howled when the man touched my power chair. He simply didn't trust him.
The second individual was the owner of the business that was to be servicing my power chair. He had come into our home several times and made threatening statements, issued ultimatums and was really very verbally abusive. Kodiak really had no tolerance for this man whatsoever.
My niece's husband is another individual that Kodiak does not react well to. He tries to nip him and in fact, did bite the back of his jeans (though he didn't get a hold of any skin), as he chases him when he's walking away from Kodiak.
Kodiak seems to be able to sense when people aren't being genuine.
Tuesday night, an old friend of ours came to visit for a little bit. Kodiak greeted him as he does all strangers, barking and howling, snorting and trying to scare him. We told him to come in and sit down and ignore Kodiak, that he would stop making noise in short order, as soon as he no longer detected a 'threat'.
Our friend sat down, we all had some pizza. Our friend offered Kodiak some pizza, which he hesitantly accepted. He seemed to be more comfortable, the longer he was in the house sitting on the couch.
When our friend stood and approached me, to show me something on his laptop, Kodiak got up and hurried to get between us. He stood between us until our friend took a step back, at which time Kodiak lay down on and between my feet. He stayed in that position until I handed the laptop to my husband and our friend was again sitting on the couch.
He behaved himself, staying ever alert, but quiet, until our friend got up to leave, then he walked him to the door.
My husband said he was comforted to know that when he's not here, Kodiak would protect me, get between me and an intruder or someone untrustworthy.
I'm learning to follow his lead and trust his instincts more and more. His judgments about different people's character have been justified.
