Barking at the Gate Revisited

A while back I delivered a full-on rant about the (insert strongly-worded editorial comment here) FedEx guy. So, what’s a girl to do when one of many UPS guys feeds barking dogs treats?

I totally get the conditioning aspects a la “Hey, that man gives us treats! He must not be all bad.”

But, when the treats are delivered WHILE the dogs are barking, doesn’t that just reinforce the behavior?

Perhaps I need to contact the company and see what they teach about dogs, but I’m pretty sure these delivery folks are NOT timing their treats for the split second or two that any given dog is NOT barking at them.

Maybe I need to add a new sign to the gate that says, “Please don’t feed me, if I’m barking.”

I’m too tired to rant, but while I’m asking for some nuance in my dog-delivery guy interaction … Do you think it’s too much to ask that they TOSS the treats, rather than try to hand them over?

Overly-excited dogs might just get a little shark-like while grabbing treats.