Another day.. another puppy worry Poppy is 7 months old now and today she displayed a behaviour she never has before ! we live in an apartment so always take poppy out for a pee/poo like a mini walk. Tonight a lady she has met before when she was a little puppy was surprised to see how big she is and came over. She put her hand out for poppy to sniff and poppy seemed nervous then barked at her. She’s never done this before! Afterward she seemed ok as she jumped up to say hi. But should I be concerned?? I don’t want her to become agressive towards strangers. Why do you guys think she did this??? we’ve worked hard on socialising her but she always still m seems a little nervous around new people at first, but people she knows (like in the park) she is super excited to see. I just worry about everything
Morning, I see Poppy has found the new challenge for you! Could it be that it was dark and she felt intimidated? Did the lady come straight over and seem forward with Poppy? When we are out I always pull Luna into the side and tell her to 'wait' until the other person has walked past then I praise her. If the person wants to say hi I do warn them and say she is a puppy and very excited, they then tend to not mind since they wanted to approach her and make a big fuss! It might be that she feels intimidated when they come right up to her and could be worth stopping, distracting her with a treat and let the person past. Then if they want to say hi, Poppy might feel that they are 'safe' as you are letting her? Sorry not much help! I think it is only natural to worry as we are teaching these little girls how to behave in this big world.
as Kyko got older he has got more scared of things that have never bothered him before. A guy who was drunk came rushing into him all bent down and because he was old and drunk it scared him. Now everyone he sees who walks with a limp or shuffles he is scared of & will bark at them. I know he's scared due to the pitch of his bark. We have learned the subtle signs he gives off when he sees people approach & always get him into a heel and will tell him what a god boy he is while basically streaming him with treats. It is much more manageable now. One of the men that scares him adores dogs & all he really wants is to give him a stroke and greet him, he has worked with us when we see him & we give him a bag of treats and asked him to throw them on the floor close to Kyko, within a couple of goes Kyko took a treat from his hand but as yet won't allow him to stroke. Also in the dark he seems much more nervous, walks to heel a lot more as if he needs the reassurance
Toby is the same. All I will say is do whatever you can at this age to get his confidence with people and avoid anyone making a direct approach with too much eye contact. Toby doesn’t bark at people anywhere near as much as he used to and if he is allowed to sniff them without any interaction he is fine but nobody gets to touch his head unless they are great pals!He doesn’t growl or anything just backs away. Don’t know what the answer is but wish we had found it.
Kyko is very hand shy he doesn't even like us to go over his face, he will allow us if he's sitting but if I go to give his head a little scratch while walking he pulls away. Sometimes I think people passing by must think he's scared of me or something. Our trainer told us to just take it slowly reach a hand over his head, give a treat until he allows the touch. But to be honest I really don't think anyone should touch a dog unless they have permission
Not all Labradors love people, especially strangers. They may be especially freaked out by someone bending towards them, hand outstretched and staring at them. Understandable really. I'd recommend asking strangers to throw treats near her but not stare at her and not touch her.
Hero is 7 months on Friday and have to say haven't had this issue arise yet. He's the complete opposite and wants to go to everybody for a fuss which is a problem in itself because not everyone likes dogs. I have to watch the person we are approaching for their body language more to guess if they are dog friendly. Have had to actually put a hand up at people and children sometimes followed by a verbal request to wait for Hero to sit before coming closer and if he is a bit excitable I do ask people not to come to him at this time. Most people are pretty ok with this and seem to understand. Regarding the head touching, he never has liked this so I tend to say to people best to stroke down his back or behind his ears which he likes. On a personal note if on my own and I see a beautiful dog approaching, I always ask if ok to say hello and stand still with my hand held down low for the dog to approach me and sniff to make up it's own mind before attempting to touch it. If the dog doesn't want to know they don't come to my hand but many times a few seconds of remaining perfectly still like this calms some quite timid dogs. Maybe worth asking people who want to approach to try this and let your lovely girl just have a sniff of their hand in her own time. It also seems to relax the owner and a dog with a relaxed owner chatting in a friendly fashion to someone can help the dog to sense things are ok. It seems to be a case sometimes of just trying to stop the other person dashing in too quickly. If someone objects to any of the approached I've mentioned then maybe they're not the right person to come near your lovely doggie
Kyko was exactly the same till about 13 months then he started barking at occasional people. Just a case of watchinig his body language and having the treats ready. When he's on his long line I recall him away and ask him to walk in a heel till we pass
While Labrador retrievers are generally known for their gentle and friendly personalities, some Labs may show signs of aggression as puppies, especially in the form of mouthing. Somebody coming straight and bending over to touch him, which could be a threat to them. And showing aggression is just the behavior but would affect their further personality and manners. So, it's necessary to build their confidence by changing their impression on strangers, which is also called socialization training. I was used to starting the train in a park without crowds and invite my friends or strangers to cooperate with me: 1. Let someone approach us without eye-contact toward my dog. 2. Let my dog have some time to sniff and basically accept the person. 3. Don't touch or pet the dog until he looks friendly. 4. Let the person give him treats and gradually shorten their distance, which can leave a good impression. 5. To avoid passional strangers, I'd love to dress my dog in a vest "Do not pet" before he was fully trained. 5. If your surroundings haven't an ideal place to train poppy, you could also train him at home. Also, you could refer to the tips from related articles, for example: https://www.thelabradorsite.com/aggressive-and-reactive-behaviour-in-labradors/ Thanks, Hope this helps!
Remember, in general an open hand is more threatening to a dog than a closed fist. I always approach new dogs with the back of my hand/wrist and my fingers in a fist. It looks safer to the dog, and if he did decide to bite, it is safer for me also. Cooper is fine with almost anyone, but she may bark at someone who is or looks like a skate boarder. If she is not comfortable with someone she may be a little stand-offish, but she is never threatening.
There is a 2nd fear period between the ages of 6-9 months, when we often see dogs showing signs of fear around things they have previously been fine with. If you can protect the dog, ensure they can move away and generally be overly conservative during this time, you should get through it ok. (Ie - don't let people greet her in the dark when she is on leash and can't get away - be socially impolite and walk off if you see someone approaching.) If you don't protect her during this time, and she has a bad experience, it can make a huge impression... Fear generalises like wild-fire, because it is adaptive for fear to generalise. (The wild animal which learns that something is scary and avoids similar things, survives...)
