We have a new person living in our house. My nephew-in-law, like a son to me really, has finally finished up with the Army. He will be staying with my husband and I indefinitely.

Now, while I like Joe, dogs seemingly do not. Could be that he is pretty loud, very tall and has a deep voice...or I suspect he is slightly nervous around dogs.

My super social GSD, Grace, submissive pees with him...the one and only person she has ever done this with and this has been since she was a pup. My Kira, who takes quite awhile to adjust to new people, generally dislikes Joe although this is probably because she has only met him a handful of times.

These are things I can work through and will do just that.

My main concern is my pup, Vigo, who is 7.5 months old. He is also the only one of my dogs that lives with me full time (the others go back and forth between my house and my moms...for some reason, I was allowed to take the cats when I moved out but not the dogs!)

Anyhow, Vigo seemed to be doing great with Joe. I had instructed Joe to just ignore Vigo and he listened. Vigo seemed to really be warming up to him...until this week...

Last week, my husband was off work, so he was always home when Joe was here. Now, he's back to work and Vigo is here alone with Joe (though he is crated the whole time and Joe knows that letting V out will mean finding all his belongings on the front lawn).

Now, V is acting a little scared of Joe...does anyone have any tips for acclimating the dog to this new person? I am trying to treat it like a training exercise...so far we are ok, but I think it is a delicate balance right now.

I am thinking Joe needs to go back to 100% ignoring the dog...but would love others inputs

"I am thinking Joe needs to go back to 100% ignoring the dog.."


So am I, depending on how long it's been. How long has it been? I mean, this should just be for a few days to make his presence customary.

"My super social GSD, Grace, submissive pees with him."

This suggests to me that maybe he loomed, gestured, focused on .... ?

He's been here a week, Connie...but throw in New Year's, hubby off work, my schedule being different etc. and our routine has been way off. He is a pretty routine dog and even Joe suggested that perhaps this is part of the issue. I tend to agree.

 Quote: connie sutherland

"My super social GSD, Grace, submissive pees with him."

This suggests to me that maybe he loomed, gestured, focused on .... ?

Honestly, I think he does these things all the time without realizing it. Time to train him as well I guess! Also, Grace has done this with him since she was 8 weeks old, and only him. It is always during the initial "hello" and then she immediately settles. Then she is comfortable with him with no nervousness.

Melissa,
Think about what you're saying for a moment. He's living there "indefinitely", it's crazy to have him ignore the dogs, it's not normal behaviour and will make it worse. Have most dog people gone off the deep end?
The submissive dog is a temperament issue and hopefully time takes care of that with him. I personally can't stand that. Have him feed the dogs and interact with them. They'll deal with it, they're pack animals. I wouldn't live somewhere and call it home if I had to walk on eggshells around dogs.

Al is right, if he is living there then the dogs need to accept having him around and get over it. My daughter's boyfriend never had dogs as he was growing up and was more than a bit nervous around Maggie when he first came to visit. Maggie is rambunctious and obnoxious. It was back on the long lead for her until she accepted that she had to behave "normally".

When everyone in the house just goes about their business, my dog just settles down and starts to follow people around seeing what's going to go down next.

Well, with more than a week gone by, the part about ignoring while his presence becomes matter-of-fact should be pretty much over.

I was thinking treats, but actually Al's suggestion of having him feed the meal sounds even better.

I still think that looming (esp with a big guy) is probably best to avoid for a little while.

 Quote:

My main concern is my pup, Vigo, who is 7.5 months old. He is also the only one of my dogs that lives with me full time (the others go back and forth between my house and my moms...for some reason, I was allowed to take the cats when I moved out but not the dogs!)

Anyhow, Vigo seemed to be doing great with Joe. I had instructed Joe to just ignore Vigo and he listened. Vigo seemed to really be warming up to him...until this week...

Last week, my husband was off work, so he was always home when Joe was here. Now, he's back to work and Vigo is here alone with Joe (though he is crated the whole time and Joe knows that letting V out will mean finding all his belongings on the front lawn).

Now, V is acting a little scared of Joe...does anyone have any tips for acclimating the dog to this new person? I am trying to treat it like a training exercise...so far we are ok, but I think it is a delicate balance right now.

And your social butterfly is suddenly a submissive pee'er.......

Something is going one, I'm not sure if he is throwing off some strange body language or what, but I am fairly certain that something is seriously off kilter here.

Marcia was posting while I was typing.


Yeah, Al is right. A couple of days of ignoring while the person's presence is established should be enough.

Is Joe up at night while the dogs are crated? And you guys are sleeping?
My brother in law's insomnia and nightly wandering made Pinker very nervous over Christmas.