We took in a friends 1yr old female yellow lab 2 months ago after the pups mother started showing aggression towards her(the pup) She is affectionate towards our 7 children, my husband and Me. She is super smart, already follows “sit” “down” “stay”. She will fetch and she will “wait” before moving forward at my command. BUT she barks at any animal that comes in eyesight on our walks and will bark/lunge at any people that she sees. We have lots of friends and family who come over and Inhate putting her in her crate but she will lunge at any person who comes through our door. We are making progress with her reacting to animals on walks and I thought we made progress yesterday with people. My mother and sister both came with treat in hand to greet our dog. She then was calm and laid on her back while they gave her belly rubs. I was so thrilled. She was so relaxed. Well they both left the room and my sister came back around the corner and my pup barks and lunges in the air at my sister. Then mom comes back and she starts barking aggressively at her, pulling at the leash to jump on her. What in the world?? I dont know how to deal with this behavior and i dont want to reach a point when nobody want to be ar our house bc we have a man-eating dog. Any suggestions?
Hi Jennifer and welcome to the forum Barking and lunging usually isn’t an aggressive behaviour. It is more likely to be based in fear (telling the person that they’re scary and they should go away now) or it can sometimes be frustration (wanting to get closer but being unable to). Can you tell us a bit more about how people are greeting your dog? This poster might be useful: https://www.flickr.com/photos/lilita/4455993339/sizes/l/ What do you do when people come to your house? And what does your dog do exactly? This posted might help with describing doggie body language: https://www.flickr.com/photos/lilita/5652847156/sizes/l/
I wont let her around guests without being on her leash bc of her behavior. When we go on walks, just the presence of another person causes her to jump, lunge, and pull all while barking incessantly. I have instructed my family to walk past her without speaking or looking at her. Initially, it works, but if the speak to me she lunges up at their face while barking loudly...and pretty scarily...bc she isn’t exactly a chihuahua. When she warmed up to my mom and sister yesterday she was super calm and relaxed until the left and then simply walked into ger sight. They were not even acknowledging her. She came within inches of my sisters face with her feet and face.
Can you post a video. Sounds like over stimulation to me. Like she just wants to meet and play with everyone she sees. Mine went this for a brief time.
I agree. It’s really difficult to know what’s going on without seeing the behaviour (human and canine). A video would be really helpful, taken from just before visitors come in the door and including interaction between her and the visitors. If you feel safe enough to do that. At this stage, based on your description, it could be fear, it could be resource guarding you or it could be over-the-top greeting/excitement. All really different things. If you don’t feel safe to take a video (because if you’re doing this then you can’t attend to your dog properly) then the best thing would be to get the help of a qualified behaviourist who uses positive methods (based on food treats. If their method isn’t based on food treats or it uses an electronic collar or shock collar or citronella collar or choke collar then do not hire them).
Two months isn’t a very long time so she could be still settling in. What was she like when she lived with your friend - it’s worth finding out if this is learned behaviour or something new? It’s good you are making progress on your walks - I used a lot of luring, treating, look at that, moving away from dogs/people if I suspected she would do the lunging, or ‘middle’. At home, it’s lots and lots of training. It’s good you keep her lead on - I did this for ages and still do it when my friend comes - she is a lot older than me and I don’t want my puppy jumping on her so I play safe. My puppy is 11 months old. We have got to the stage when she will sit when the door bell rings and stay as I let people in. Yesterday however, my daughter and granddaughter came - Red got super excited to see them, broke her stay and did some crazy jumping for a bit. They both turned their backs on her and she settled down fairly quickly. I was a bit disappointed she did this but I know it’s just excitement.
Hello @Jennifer Helms and welcome to the forum. Our pup is now just over a year old and she can still get reallly excited with new people, or any people really. We still consider her to be young and silly. It is very different from when she was younger and she is so much steadier in her interactions. I know you will get some useful and appropriate information here. She is a lucky lab that you were willing to take her in. *This is not a personal attack* I have a duty to ask if we can please change the title of this post. Bipolar is not an adjective, nor should it be used in terms of indicating that someone or something is behaving in a manner that could harm another. We need to be aware of how we speak and how we stigmatise mental illness. I am sure that it wasn't your intention to add to the stigma but it is my personal and professional duty to ask for change.
While with our friends family she was not around guests very often. When they have people over the dogs either go outside or into their crates. So she didn't have much experience with lots of strangers coming around. She isn't reactive to a doorbell or to the door opening. When a guest enters the house, at first glance she almost ignores them. Then her second look will recognize that they are not part of the normal family here and she will go nuts. I can make her sit while i hold her harness. She will growl then continue to bark. What confuses me is why she will calm down with someone after smelling and letting them love on her and pet her, and then 5 minutes later turn around and growl, bark, and lunge at them when they come back from another room. She didn't do that with any of our 9 family members when she moved into our home. She has always been chill with all of us after the initial day of change. We are continuing the treats on walks to help with distractions and her listening. Hopefully that will eventually carry over into her behavior with strangers. As for my use of bipolar it wasn't meant to negatively stigmatize or refer to someone's negative behavior. It was the best way I knew to describe the actual situation I am trying to figure out. She has a shift from being completely calm, submissive, and licking a stranger.....to jumping, growling, and barking at the very same person....all in a matter of 5 minutes. Knowing some friends who have been diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder, I wasn't meaning to be insensitive. Just referring to the sudden shift in personality from chill to intense with no obvious trigger at the moment. I apologize if it offended anyone.
My lab is a little older than a year and when anyone comes over he barks at them and to me is definitely seems fearful/insecure. He acts like he is protecting us. At first we told people to give him a treat but my trainer said when they are that scared you forcing your dog to interact because they love cookies. Instead what we do now is tell the people to completely ignore him. Then once he settles and is curious about them then they can give him a treat. So far it is working but every time someone comes over he does this. He also does it if he hears any “noises” in the house
Is your pups sight and hearing ok? Just that a couple of things you've written seem to suggest he's being startled or not recognising people, which of course would make him fearful. I'm probably completely wrong but thought I'd throw the idea out there.
She sees and hears everything, lol. Let a cat be on the street 6 houses down and she is honed in. And she can be upstairs and hear me pour her food....she will come running.
Y Yeah i dont let them greet her with treats. I have them ignore her. Then i will let her slowly get closer to check it out. On Thanksgiving I let them ask her to sit/down to give her turkey since she was not being crazy. She was chill. Completely laid out on her back spread eagle while they rubbed her belly. They had to go do something real quick, left the room and came right back. She sees them coming and jumps and barks very scarily. So confused.
