Knock, Knock! Who's there?

Our boy, Gonzo, fancies himself a guard dog, although we teasingly call him a panic-attack dog. When someone knocks (or God forbid rings the doorbell) he sets off in a cacophony of barks, yelps, growls and other odd noises to scare off the intruder. (He must imagine Attila the Hun comes to our neighborhood on a regular basis.)
I call him our dog-bell, and one can set off the dog-bell by knocking on any wooden surface in the house. I find great entertainment in this some days. I will knock on the end table or coffee table and call out,"Who is it?" and let him go to town. Of course, then I praise him up and down for saving us all from horrible intruders. However, this can be a tad embarrassing for us when our boy won't stop barking at company. Soon enough, Gonzo stops barking and goes and grabs one of his toys to parade around with, but our boy can make it quite loud at our Christmas open house.

The other major threat in Gonzo's mind other than the mystery knock is the dog next door. Sarge is a gorgeous rust colored Akita mix with a sweet face and a great disposition. He doesn't bark at passers-by in his yard, and is generally sweet and lovable. But Gonzo will absolutely flip out when Sarge in out the yard while he's out. He barks, growls, snaps and acts completely out of character. Sarge doesn't seem to even notice that Gonzo is there. I am glad that there's no access between the yards, because I don't know that it would end well. I have a theory why Gonzo acts this way with Sarge although he ignores the other two dogs our boy can see from the back yard.

Sarge is also a rescue dog. As a matter of fact, he was adopted out of the same shelter the same week as Gonzo. If I remember correctly, they were across from each other in their cages. So Gonzo met Sarge in the "big house" and apparently someone must of talked some smack. Now that they're both sprung, Gonzo's got a score to settle. Sarge is trying hard not to get sent back to the slammer.
On the other hand, Sarge's owner loves Gonzo to the point that she buys him special treats. She insists that it's Sarge that instigates the barking, although Sarge never makes a peep. I guess I should be very grateful I have such a wonderful neighbor who loves our boy almost as much as we do.

Good Boy, Gonzo. Everybody loves you.