I have a 2 yr old dutch shepherd that is a very good dog. She is good in public with both people and dogs. She can be reactive to dogs she does not know approaching her (we try not to let this happen), but we can heel her past any dog. She is an agility dog and performs very well. Our problem is at home with strangers and/or family friends. We had this scnerio happen more than once. Someone she has known and liked since she was a puppy will come to visit and she will behave appropriately for time periods of several minutes to over an hour. My definition of appropriate is the dog will walk around as normal, occasionally looking to be petted by the person or us. And just when things seem to be good, her posture will turn into a fearful/submissive appearance. At this point we have only a split second to step in or she will turn aggressive. During this time, she has not actually bit anyone or even torn sleeves, but she will grab their arm and not let go until we intervene. My questions are: Why does her behavior change from ok to fearful after an hour without any reason? She will be enjoying being petted and could walk away at any time, but she will not walk away. How would you suggest we correct this behavior ? Obviously we correct her when this occurs, but we want to de-sensitize her to visitors coming in the house. We keep her separate from visitors unless we are specifically working on this issue. The ultimate goal for us is to have her comfortable with anyone we allow in the house not her.

Although she is a dutch shepherd, she does not have (nor do we intend) any protection or shutzhund training. She is a companion and agility dog and has obedience training.

is she approaching the people when she switches into the fearful behaviour, or are they approaching her?

does this happen when they are petting her?

what are the visitors doing? are you doing anything?

i'm just wondering if there are certain behaviours that make her nervous and set her off.

Why do you let her interact with and be petted by people from outside the family?

I think the key with any behavior like this is to keep the dog from being in a situation where she feels like she has to make some kind of decision. If my dogs are loose when we have guests, the guests are instructed to ignore the dogs and the dogs are expected to lay on their bed and leave the people alone. obviously there is some training involved to get them to this point but it all boils down to leadership.

I would not let her be in a situation where she has the chance to be petted OR to bite. If you manage the environment, no corrections will be needed. I would bet that if you continue the way you are there will be a more serious bite. Giving her corrections when she's anxious only make the anxiety worse for the next time a guest comes over.

It sounds like you have this under control with the "meeting a dog out in public" situations that occur, just use that same mindset inside the home.

Leadership is a 24/7 project, not just when you leave the house.

She approaches the people.

It happens while they are petting her. Note: She approached them and looked for the attention.

Vistors are doing nothing other then talking. No fast movements or play.


I believe you may be right that certain behaviors set her off. But I cannot figure out what that behavior would be. Its nothing I been able to detect.

We have started a plan simular to what you are suggesting. We don't let her interact guests. With certain guests (close friends and extended family) we will allow her to interact for short periods of time then put her away. We try to put her away before there is any need for a correction. I'm hoping that over time, we will be able to extend the period of time and have her be totally comfortable with the situation. I'm simply looking for suggestions or advice if we're on the right track.

I can easily (and have been) avoid the situation, but I would also like to correct it the problem as well.

One more thing, outside the house, she seems very confident and generally is not a fearful dog. She only show's this fearful behavior when guests are in the house.

Thanks for your input.

Hi Wes,

When I have guests which is fairly frequently my dog stays on his bed. I don't have a problem with him getting up to get a drink but he knows he needs to return to his bed.

As Cindy said there is quite a bit of training behind this; I started it as a pup in his crate and as his ability to remain in one spot increased I moved to having him tethered to his bed and finally staying on his bed on his own.

You said she is only two; I didn't feel my guy was ready to go without his tether until he was over 3; that being said, I've never claimed to being the fastest trainer in town

He is 9 years old and has had many successful visits with people but I still always keep an eye on him and any signals he is sending my way. I had a family party a couple of weeks ago and had 60 people in my not too big house; a dozen of them under the age of 10. He knew everyone but it was a pretty overwhelming # and as soon as he began to stand up and lie down and stand up and lie down; I crated him in the car. His inability to stay in one place was a good indication to me that he wasn't up for the party. He probably would have been fine but I didn't see any point in his being there.

I think you are missing your girl's signals which is causing her to take matters into her own paws.

Before she has approached your guest I am sure she may have started to pant or drool or sent you a round eye stare or even whined; all indications of stress and the point where I would remove her from the situation; she won't learn to be comfortable while she is feeling stress but she will learn to trust you to keep her safe if you take care of her before she feels the need to take care of herself.

My suggestion would be to go back to the beginning and make having her comfortable your goal. As far as interacting with people; is it necessary? I'd put that last on my lists of priority.

Thanks Shelia,

I may need to re-think my approach. Our last shepherd was a social butterfly absolutely loved company. Interacting with people was a treat for her. This pup definitely plays by a different set of rules.

Any other input is appreciated.

 Quote: Sheila Buckley

When I have guests which is fairly frequently my dog stays on his bed. I don't have a problem with him getting up to get a drink but he knows he needs to return to his bed.
...He knew everyone but it was a pretty overwhelming # and as soon as he began to stand up and lie down and stand up and lie down; I crated him in the car. His inability to stay in one place was a good indication to me that he wasn't up for the party...

I am learning a completely different way to train and handle my dog, so I won't offer advice. I just wanted to point out that what Ms. Buckley said is something I hadn't thought about.
When a trained dog breaks command it may not require a disciplinary action. It may be a signal to the owner that the dog is stressed or uncomfortable in the situation and needs to be relieved of the stressor.
Thank you for that lesson.

After further review, there are definite signs of "stress" which were missed. That being said, as suggested, we have shifted are goal from any kind of interaction to just being stress free and comfortable. Here lies the problem. When guests arive, if we crate her, her stess level goes up. Normally she is crate trained and quite comfortable in her crate. He have also tried crating her in another room. This doesn't seem to help since she still knows someone else is in the house. What does seem to help, is keeping her on a leash near our side. Is keeping her on leash by our side the correct approach? Or should we continue to crate her and force her to work through the issue? Eventually I would like the crate to be replaced by a down stay or "place", but people in the house are way too much of a distraction to even think about her being able to control herself.


Also, a behavioralist question. Why is she comfortable around people (friends or strangers) in public, but fearful at home? Is there a territorial thing going on as well? Its almost like it is a different dog at home vs public.

Thanks again for the help.

I was going to suggest the leash inside. I think that may be a key difference between the "at home" and "public" behavior.

The leash gives the dog both comfort and confidence that they aren't going it alone--that you are in charge of whatever the situation is, to remind them what they are supposed to do so that they don't have to make any decisions. The leash is sort of a conscience.

If the leash is the tool that gets the behavior you need around guests (better than the crate) then, I say go with the tool that works best.

There's no law that says a dog has to like cocktail parties or be comfortable in such situations. Of my four dogs, two would HATE being in a room full of stragers at home, two would love it. The ones that don't like it--why force it?