A viewer asks about his dog: “Seventh, no barking at passersby (doorbell, too) – amazing since he is now free to be on the balcony and no chasing skateboarders, cars, or buses.”

This behavior again has its roots in natural instinct, to declare one’s turf by sounding off one’s presence so an intruder gets fair warning that that territory is taken, it has been claimed, and will be defended. This is again a natural canine instinct, to guard the home in whatever form that is perceived. The question that comes up is: "To what extent this might be done and how strongly the dog feels compelled to not only be aware of intruders but sound the alarm and become overly aggressive as a part of the behavioral response?" Where it, in fact, can lead to tragedy if a door is left ajar or a window is open and the animal goes on the attack and bites a postman, for example, or may attack a child wandering on the property without a learned sense of boundaries and becomes a victim. Most dogs that are well-balanced can be trained by their owners to moderate such behavior and learn what is appropriate within the current pack, so to speak, and tone things down to perhaps maintain a vigil and sound a warning, but not to great excess and to reach a dangerous point of aggressive behavior that could lead to tragedy. Those instincts are greatly exaggerated in animals that have been harmed in prior karmic episodes where they were harmed by strangers and learned the hard way that not all humans can be trusted, and this pertains to anything connected, including buses, cars, children on bicycles, and so on. In a sense, it is an enticement when humans act like prey and appear to be on the move and thereby stir up the instinct to chase. The animal might perceive this as that moving individual or object as being prey through its conduct, through its behavior, or as fleeing from the animal’s vocal challenge and thereby signaling it does represent a threat but it is easily conquered and warrants a good thrashing if the animal guarding its territory has the opportunity to go on the attack. So those protective instincts will be potentiated by prior karmic experiencing of being challenged and harmed by superior force unless action is taken swiftly and a powerful, aggressive display is not followed immediately by going on the attack to have the psychological advantage at the outset. This sets things up to worsen and it is far safer in having an animal in one’s life to bring in healing for karmic triggers that could arouse instinctive behavior at just the wrong time and avoid any excessive consequences that could be a danger to the neighborhood. This has been arranged as a blessing in particular for this animal, who is again a beloved pet but coming in with less baggage, and the contrast is quite apparent and is enjoyable not only to the human owner but is reflecting a better life experience of the dog. He is now free of the karmic entanglements of the past that caused disquiet, fear, tension, and alarm in ways that were not truly appropriate in the life setting with his owner in that prior lifetime, but nonetheless could not be helped and added discomfort all along the way in that lifetime because there was not a way to heal it and escape from the consequences of having the old wounds stirred up and thus affect the animal’s feelings and behavior. His new more laid-back lifestyle will be much better and constitutes a blessing that will help him now and in the future as well, to have better lives ahead.