MamaSheep Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Our toy fox terrier puppy, whom we all adore, has always been fine with visitors. Sometimes she'll be just a little shy and need a moment to warm up, but then they're her new best friend. Just in the last few days, though, she's suddenly gotten very territorial and will back away and bark kind of viciously at anyone who comes to the house. It's a different bark than I've heard before. Usually she only barks when she's lonely or needs to go out, and it's a kind of yappy high-pitched bark. On Sunday, though, we had a couple of older men from church stop by and she started in with this deep, scary woof woofing! She sounded much bigger and scarier than she is. She also barked at the kids' friends when they came over yesterday. Even my dd's friend who practically lives here half the time. So is this a normal developmental thing? Will she grow out of it? Do I need to do some special training kind of thing to get her back to being used to having visitors again? Why is our sweet fuzzball suddenly turning into a vicious watch dog? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarlaS Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Sounds like she's getting old enough to know who family is and who it isn't. Our German Shepherd puppy suddenly did the same thing @ 4 months old. It kind of startled me at first (and we knew GSDs are guard dogs) though as our husky never barks at anyone ever. He especially does not care for men he does not know suddenly appearing in the house (like when my FIL just opened the back door and started to come in one Sunday afternoon). He adores the neighbor kids though and they get a warm welcome even if we haven't seen them in a while. He may bark once or twice, but it's more of a happy-to-see-you bark. Did she do the scary barking thing with the kids, particularly the ones she knows, or just the men? Did they just sort of suddenly appear possibly startling her? Our dog barks extra ferociously when he sees the UPS truck backing out of the driveway. It's almost like he's embarrassed he missed it pulling in and trying to make up for it ("See mom? I'm doing my job!" :lol:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaSheep Posted February 22, 2012 Author Share Posted February 22, 2012 Sounds like she's getting old enough to know who family is and who it isn't. Our German Shepherd puppy suddenly did the same thing @ 4 months old. It kind of startled me at first (and we knew GSDs are guard dogs) though as our husky never barks at anyone ever. He especially does not care for men he does not know suddenly appearing in the house (like when my FIL just opened the back door and started to come in one Sunday afternoon). He adores the neighbor kids though and they get a warm welcome even if we haven't seen them in a while. He may bark once or twice, but it's more of a happy-to-see-you bark. Did she do the scary barking thing with the kids, particularly the ones she knows, or just the men? Did they just sort of suddenly appear possibly startling her? Our dog barks extra ferociously when he sees the UPS truck backing out of the driveway. It's almost like he's embarrassed he missed it pulling in and trying to make up for it ("See mom? I'm doing my job!" :lol:) The bark for the men was definitely scarier than for the kids. With the kids she just stood in the back of her pen and barked at them. But it was more of a "hey, there's a kid that doesn't live here in the house" kind of bark, whereas the barking at the men was more of a "if you come any closer I will rip out your achilles tendons and then when you fall down I will eat your face" kind of barking. She stopped when I picked her up, and sniffed their hands, and generally behaved herself. When I put her down again after a few minutes she barked again, and dh held her on his lap for the duration of the visit. She sat there on his lap with her tail tucked, looking nervous and suspicious. Now that I think of it, I had just gotten home from choir practice when they pulled up. They had made an appointment in advance, and I knew they were coming, but I saw them pull up as I was going in the house, and I told the kids to quick get their stuff out of the living room, and then they knocked and I let them in while I was still standing in front of the door. Maybe it looked to her like I came in and sent the kids scampering because I was scared and then they followed me in. Hmm.... She's barked at a couple of joggers (and cats, and the fluffy white dog two doors down that sneaks in our yard to poop) when I've taken her out too, but it was not that scary watchdog bark. That I had not heard before. I'm just glad she didn't bark like that at Grandma when she was here a few weeks ago. Grandma doesn't really like dogs much anyway. Well...she has nothing against dogs per se, but she grew up on a farm, where the dogs were outdoor, working animals. The idea of dogs in the HOUSE is just off for her and it sets her on edge. For her it's like having a pet cow. Grandpa quite enjoyed our little one, though. He told us about a half coyote dog he had when he was a kid. I never knew that before. Then again, I grew up where there were lots of coyotes and I would guess he didn't want to give us kids any ideas about trying to make friends with them. Well this has gotten rambly and is evidently degenerating into stream of consciousness drivel...lol. Sorry. I'm stopping now. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bzymom Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 You can do a couple of things. You can train your puppy to "hush" after a single bark when you approve, i.e. when someone is at the door. You do this by catching her the second she stops barking, saying hush and giving a treat. Unsolicited barking is never welcome. I would recommend having people in and out as often as possible during this phase. Keep puppy on leash, and correct as soon as any ugly behavior begins. When puppy is calm, quiet and sitting, have guest approach and give a treat. Teach that guests are fabulous and may have goodies! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktgrok Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 If she is backing away it isn't territorial, it is fear. She is ambivalent and the best thing you can do is teach/reteach that strangers are FUN! Have LOTS of people come over (not all at once) and feed her treats. Have them just toss them to her if she is acting silly. Let her learn that people = jerky. Then she will start loving having people come over! Dogs go through certain "fear" periods as puppies, and she might be in one now. Kind of like stranger anxiety in kids. If you punish her she will learn that people = being yelled at/punished and it will probably get worse, not better. Oh, and do NOT force her to go up to people, or be pet. That will just be more traumatic and make it worse. Let her approach people on her own time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaSheep Posted February 22, 2012 Author Share Posted February 22, 2012 Thank you, that makes sense. She's backing away from house guests, but she lunges at joggers and the neighbor dog. I'm guessing she's being territorial of the yard, then, but is scared when people come in the house? And now that you mention fear periods, I remember she went through one a couple of months ago. She was smaller, though, and mostly just hid from people. But I bet that's what's going on and we'll probably make it through this one too. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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