Little Toto

I remember meeting my friend’s dog Toto. She was a tiny terrier. She barked at me pretty furiously when we first met, so I assumed she either didn’t like strangers, or she didn’t like me in particular.

After staying at my friend’s house for some time, Toto gradually grew accustomed to me. Instead she would circle me and sniff around my legs. Sometimes she would approach me cautiously. Soon, she let me scratch behind her ears, which she thoroughly enjoyed. Toto would even jump onto my lap and snuggle there while I scratched her.

As I spent more time with Toto, I noticed certain habits she had. Whenever the doorbell rings, she would jump up and start to bark in the direction of the front door. However, this seemed to be a conditioned response. The source of the doorbell sound was nowhere near the location of the front door. Toto must have learned that the door usually opens when the doorbell sounds.

I also noticed that she tended to bark at anything that startles her, such as a cuckoo clock. She isn’t scared of the sounds, which suggests that her owners are protective of her. She is very sheltered living in a house, so the natural fight or flight response she has probably decayed over time. There’s less of a need for survival instinct because everything is handed to her.