My pup is just about a year old now, a Dogo Argentino. This morning when I took him to 'go outside' there was no one in the backyard, as is fairly normal. But my neighbours had visitors over for the holiday, and one of the adults with a kid around 8-9 years old popped out of nowhere behind the shed (I had no idea they were there just like my dog). My dog got a little worked up sounded a few alert barks and was pointed directly at them, very good posture and trying to move towards the two people. I got my dog's attention and then after eye contact we moved towards them. My dog went directly towards them trying to smell them, which seemed fine. But when the girl tried to pet him he backed down a bit, like he was trying to keep her from petting his head. I thought this was a little weird.

A little background. As a young pup he always seemed really confident around people and had no issues going up to complete strangers. I let him meet a few strangers, not very often, and my close friends and family for short greetings/to get petted. Since he seemed fine with it I pretty much stopped having him meet other people. The last time he met a stranger was a few weeks ago, almost a month, on a camping trip where he never seemed spoooked by noises or anything like that at night, only growled and barked at people who came into our campsite a few times. But since we were in a completely different place I thought I should see how he responded to a person who asked to pet him. On a hiking trail he was perfectly ok with getting petted, good posture and just slowly wagging his tail. Since this time I've been focusing more on obedience and not really socialization, so this may be the cause of him recoiling a bit. What do you think?

Also we do marker training just about anytime we go outside and around the house. He only gets corrections for serious things and has only had a few serious corrections. Right now I've been guiding him with the leash and making him repeat things more than correcting him.

Anyway, I figured after this incident I should do some more socialization. After I got home from work we went out for 20-30 minutes. First place was a construction site fixing up a grocery store. He went right up to the group of people, and one person commented that 'whoah he's really curious'. He really wanted to smell and investigate the people. One girl tried to pet him and he was fine, but backed down a little in his posture when she tried to pet his head. Next place I tried was a little alleyway where a guy was practising his hockey shot. Same deal, my dog tried to go right up to the guy, and went after his ball (I was explaining to the guy what I was trying to do, I didin't just interrupt him rudely). And as my dog tried to get the ball the guy reached down to pet my pup. My pup didn't see the guy reaching down towards him but was totally fine with it, brought his head up towards the guy and had good posture, wagging his tail and then went after the ball again. I got a few girls to give my pup a treat and he seemed really good with them. And then went up to a few kids at a playground and right amongst some guys sitting on their bikes by the skatepark. And as he has always done if people walk by too close he'll try and sniff their hand.

So, could it have been that my dog was startled this morning and didn't really want to be pet after being a little defensive. Or should I be worried of him being timid in certain situations? I'm trying to train him for Schutzhund and definitely don't want a timid or handshy dog. In the coming weeks I'll be doing tug work with partners, so this should get him more used to people. I'm on the sport side as well so I prefer him being a little friendly. Any thoughts or advice? I hope all this makes sense. And thanks in advance for any input.

Many dogs, mine included, don't like to be petted on the head.

The dog may view it as a challenge...

Yup, agree. 'Covering' their head can be a challenge and unsettling.

Unless we know the person, we always tell people that we allow to pet our dogs (not many) to pet them UNDER the chin after the dog has smelt them and appears settled.

People with nervous or too high energy putting hands over your dogs head is probably not a good idea IMHO.

Maggie prefers shoulder rubs or under the chin scratches, too. The head pet is quite unsettling even from us (but she has decided that I can give her an ear rub - no one else)

Hi Michael,

I agree it is really important to work on socialization especially as the dog matures. However, my approach would be different. I would work on having him be neutral to people vs greeting them. Whether or not people pet him IMO isn't important what is important is he ignores them and focuses on you.

So your choices of venue were good but I would have worked on engaging him when he wanted to greet people. Put the focus on you vs strangers and he'll probably be more comfortable because he doesn't have to make any decisions about being up close and personal since you're calling the shots.

I think one is a tricky age; still some puppy traits of charging forward head on but then some maturing reservation of maybe I should have checked this out a little bit more now that I'm face to face and I don't know what to do because I'm conflicted.

I feel like I'm rambling so hopefully this makes sense.

Ok, thanks for the responses everyone. I guess I just find it confusing that he wants to go up to people but then doesn't want to be pet by them.

Last night when I was out with him he stopped to 'go outside' and there were a few people waiting for a bus. Two of them started staring at him and he was pushing towards them and letting out short and slight barks. And then when they came forward a little bit to ask if they could meet him he decided he really didn't like them and was growling. So I brought him back to me and got him to "watch me". It was pretty hard because at the same time another dog came by. But normally he's pretty good with focusing under distraction. Maybe a 'heel', 'guard' or 'here' is a better engagement exercise?

Tonight I just went out for a short bit to focus on engagement while walking in certain places. At one point as we walked past a store a woman came out behind us suddenly and my pup turned around and went towards her to check her out. As she tried to pet his head he lowered down towards the ground, but as soon as her hand went elsewhere he popped right back up into normal posture. So maybe this is a sign like you all are saying about not liking the head pet. As the woman passed us she kind of ran a few steps and my dog chased her a bit and tried to get what was in her hand. At this point I said 'here' and he returned to me and got marked/rewarded. I figure I should avoid all corrections when really close to people.

We walked by a guy as he put up his umbrella, and my pup didn't seem spooked, really watched the umbrella. And then two guys hanging outside a liquor store asked to pet him and gave the baby talk sounds. As soon as he gave the baby noises I said 'here' and he responded immediately and got rewarded.

Is this the sort of thing you mean Sheila? Give different commands like 'here', 'guard', 'heel', and 'sit' around people and just keep people from approaching him? I'm just concerned because I don't want him to be handshy and I know there's a lot of situations where you can get into the stray hands of the dog lovers. Maybe I should just be more assertive around people and focus on the engagement in lots of places over the next year. I'm thinking this is what you're suggesting.

 Quote: Michael Pugsley

Maybe I should just be more assertive around people and focus on the engagement in lots of places over the next year.

What a great idea!

The best thing you can do about socialization with people is to find people who are on the same page training-wise as you are and are using the same methods, words, gestures etc. and who would follow your directions.

Do not expect strangers to be reasonable around your dog. The crazy things people do to strange dogs!!!

Also, a lot of people don't like being approached by strange dogs, surprisingly enough. Especially dogs like yours Just one little misunderstanding could turn into a huge trouble. You don't really need this headache

I have given selected strangers treats and had them give them to my pup.
Not what people who want guard and protection type dogs do, and it's probably really bad training, but it worked for my guy to break the cycle of thinking strange people were 100% dangerous.
I only did it a few times (3) but it really helped with the UPS man, the TSA people at the airport, the roofer and his goons.
My guy is isolated and sees few people. I have no friends,casual visitors. I had a CHesapeake that was a ferocious beast, and my last ACD was a monster. I can't always control who comes to the farm, can't control every interaction. This food thing has helped my guy to think that SOME people could in fact be cool.

 Quote: Ana Kozlowsky

 Quote: Michael Pugsley

Maybe I should just be more assertive around people and focus on the engagement in lots of places over the next year.

What a great idea!

The best thing you can do about socialization with people is to find people who are on the same page training-wise as you are and are using the same methods, words, gestures etc. and who would follow your directions.

Do not expect strangers to be reasonable around your dog. The crazy things people do to strange dogs!!!

Also, a lot of people don't like being approached by strange dogs, surprisingly enough. Especially dogs like yours Just one little misunderstanding could turn into a huge trouble. You don't really need this headache

I agree with you, definitely. I'm just having a hard time finding people to train with. It is really hard to explain to people what you want, especially if they have zero experience training dogs. And you're right he would scare a lot of people even if I made him an overfriendly pet hound. He has a huge head and is very muscular. He'll end up around 110 lbs. and at this point is nearly as quick as a malinois. So focus and engagement training is the way I'll go.

Today I took him to a park to train. Long line on to make sure he doesn't get reinforced into chasing other dogs/people, and of course to keep him safe. I was pleased to see a guy walking with a friend and three dogs who gestured to me as to come close or stay away. And he responded to my gesture to go around. He was watching me train and then came up to introduce himself (without his dogs). He said he was a trainer and a few times I got my dog to run after him and then I recalled him. And he did it really quick. The guy really liked the dog and my training, but thought I used treats too much. My dog was really confident around the guy and remained quite engaged with me.

I figure if I can see this guy train one of his dogs I may be able to work with him a bit. I was a bit suspicious though as the guy really showed interested in breeding my dog to his white pitbull bitch in the future. I think anyone who wants to breed a Dogo without asking questions is a little suspect. Not too many people would be able to handle them, and I don't want them getting a bad name or contributing to the pitbulls bad name.

Anyway, I'm ranting. Thanks a lot for your response Ana!

 Quote: Betty Landercasp

I have given selected strangers treats and had them give them to my pup.
Not what people who want guard and protection type dogs do, and it's probably really bad training, but it worked for my guy to break the cycle of thinking strange people were 100% dangerous.
I only did it a few times (3) but it really helped with the UPS man, the TSA people at the airport, the roofer and his goons.
My guy is isolated and sees few people. I have no friends,casual visitors. I had a CHesapeake that was a ferocious beast, and my last ACD was a monster. I can't always control who comes to the farm, can't control every interaction. This food thing has helped my guy to think that SOME people could in fact be cool.

I don't think the treats are too bad if you're more focused on the sport work. As long as it's very limited. What do you mean by them being a 'ferocious beast' or a 'monster'?