I have a rescue Am.Bulldog x APBT cross ( best guess) who is starting to show fear aggression towards new people he meets.
Not all people but just some.

He can be at our cottage and anyone can come by, as long as they do not try to approach him or look at him he is perfectly fine with them and is willing to meet them with in minutes being a gentle loving well behaved boy. However, if someone arrives and looks at him (usually done while asking questions about him) he will growl and bark like a vicious dog all the while having his tail tucked tight up against his belly and backing away from them.
If the same person he was just acting this way towards sits down, he is excited and willing to meet them.
My question is this, when he is in his fearful and aggressive state what is the best thing I can do to not encourage it, or reward it.
Being as though we live where dogs of his "apparance" are banned he is under socialized, I do not deny it, I have done my best getting him into obedience classes and going to seminars with him for exposure to people and places but I always have to be careful where we are going and who may be there.
He is muzzled when we are expecting company at the cottage and when we are not expecting anyone, he is offleash but has an e collar on for recall purposes as at anytime people could come by.
Any tips or recommendations would be appreciated. Like I said "Pitbulls" and anything substantually similar are banned here and even though he is not a pitbull but is similar in appearance I really want to work on this for many reasons but the main one is just so he doesn't act this way around the "wrong" person one day and also because someone already gave up on him once and dumped him on the highway, I will not give up on him, who could with a face like this?
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd301/z28gurl_2007/Elmo/niceelmo.jpg

Edited by Connie Sutherland (06/21/2011 09:55 AM)
Edit reason: un-embed extremely large pic

Wow, he's gorgeous!

I know that you will get much better answers from much more experienced people, but to get you started....

Have you looked through the articles on obedience, groundwork/pack structure, and the Q&A section on fear biters?

try looking through some of those articles and check this out:

http://leerburg.com/qafear.htm

I have a fearful dog at home, too. He is partially blind and deaf, so he startles easily but also does the fear aggression things with strangers. I have decided that there is no reason whatsoever for a stranger to ever touch him and he is finally figuring that out. He is starting to look at me instead of hackling up and growling now.
When guests come to your cottage, your littl guy would probably feel much safer in a crate with no pressure from the big, bad scary strangers.

Best wishes with him.

Number one is this:

"However, if someone arrives and looks at him (usually done while asking questions about him) he will growl and bark like a vicious dog all the while having his tail tucked tight up against his belly and backing away from them."

Why do you allow this? Why is anyone allowed to accost him? I am not attacking you; I am trying to shift your POV to that of a pack leader who knows that her dog is stressed by this. What a pack leader does is not allow it to happen to her pack member.

More details. Is this on walks, in your home, or what?

"He is muzzled when we are expecting company at the cottage and when we are not expecting anyone, he is offleash but has an e collar on for recall purposes as at anytime people could come by."

Lisa is 100% correct. Why is he not simply put up? Muzzling may protect a visitor from his teeth, but think of his fear/anxiety/stress. And people still loom and stare.

Offleash? This does not sound like a dog who is ready to be offleash outside.

I hope I don't sound confrontational. I think you want to shift the way you are looking at this.

Not only do I agree that I'd be putting this good lookin' boy away when people are coming over, but I'd give him a yummy appropriate bone/treat to work on so that he has something fun/rewarding to do. And if someone stops by unannounced, I wouldn't open the door until he is safely in his crate or another room... teach him "place" or "crate" and send him running with a reward coming his way.

Why do you allow this? Why is anyone allowed to accost him? I am not attacking you; I am trying to shift your POV to that of a pack leader who knows that her dog is stressed by this. What a pack leader does is not allow it to happen to her pack member.

More details. Is this on walks, in your home, or what?

At our cottage he is fine when someone walks down the hill towards us, it is as soon as they look at him or talk to him ( you know how some people can be) I usually ask that they ignore him and walk by. IF the person coming down the hill pays no attention to him what so ever he does not do this, he is then inquisitive and willing to meet them happily. At home he does not do this, on walks he could care less who or what is around as he focuses on me the whole time ( we use walks for training time as well)


Lisa is 100% correct. Why is he not simply put up? Muzzling may protect a visitor from his teeth, but think of his fear/anxiety/stress. And people still loom and stare.

Would putting him up in his crate not create other problems? As soon as I see someone coming down the hill to put him in a crate even with a reward couldn't that be teaching him when people come by he is not allowed to be near them? And how long should he stay crated? The entire time a guest may be there? It could be all day. I can try this for sure, but I do want to know what a good calm time would be to take him back out of his crate and if he reacts to the person there what would be the best plan of action from there. I do not want to have him crated all day at the cottage there is little shade around and inside the cottage becomes a sauna during the day.

Offleash? This does not sound like a dog who is ready to be offleash outside.

I hope I don't sound confrontational. I think you want to shift the way you are looking at this.

I have great recall on him and most days there is no one around for miles, plus you do have to drive part way down to the lake so I see cars come in which is when I will leash him and carry on with what we were doing just on leash.

And I am perfectly fine with confrontational sounding questions and do not take offense. I don't think I'm right all the time and admittingly right now i am at a loss of what I should be doing to make this right by him, which is why I asked. Constructive critisim is always accepted by me

Thanks everyone

---

"Frustration begins where knowledge ends"

1. If someone refuses to ignore and walk by, then I walk away.

2. How long does a stranger stay? If it's a long time, then you could do the "no touch, no eye contact, no speak" instruction to them, go to the dog, take him out if he is calm, keep him on lead, and keep him by you.

A dog who has reactions like this have (for one thing) a perception that he is not reliably protected by his pack leader. So working on leadership, including stepping between him and a stranger, refusing to allow him to be loomed over or otherwise accosted, and affirming that you decide all appropriate reactions will all gradually increase his trust in you and decrease his perception that he's on his own when one of his reactivity triggers approaches. (This is nothing personal; this is something that could safely/appropriately said to just about any owner of a dog who has fear-reactions like this.)

That's why we're urging that you demonstrate and carry through on reliably stepping between the dog and whatever causes him stress and anxiety.

Thank you Connie (and others who have chimed in)
After doing more reading around here and other sites I will be taking a crate up to the cottage to work on this as suggested and his perception that I am not reliably protecting him does indeed make sense.
I will come back to this thread in a few weeks if all goes well and I do not have any other questions or concerns about this subject and let you all know how it goes.
Until then though I am all ears... or eyes I guess, for other suggestions or tips on already great suggestions.

Erica, you have no idea how wonderful your open mind/ears is to all of us...

Your pup will do very well because of your open mind/ears.

Keep us posted!

One more question already

When I take him out of the crate in a relaxed calm state, do I bring him towards the company?
Plan of action after crating when seeing car come down the hill:
-Crate and chew
-Wait out the guest, if a prolonged visit discuss "issue" with Elmo (or Elmo's perception that I am not reliable as it makes sense)
-Ask that they do not look, talk to or lurk over or around him.
-Remove from crate quietly
Then
a)walk him down on lead (I am figuring to do this with no excitement but just a calm energy) past company or
b)walk him down on lead and sit with company with myself between him and guests and carry on our conversations.
Now, if plan b is the preferred action here, would I put him in a down stay "safely" beside me, or allow him to investigate in his own time?

Should I go with the down stay and forget about introductions for a while and work more on him trusting me?
If so, what would be a good indication he is ready to meet people?
Am I just putting too much pre planning long term into this?

 Quote: Erica Acer

Thank you Connie (and others who have chimed in)
After doing more reading around here and other sites I will be taking a crate up to the cottage to work on this as suggested and his perception that I am not reliably protecting him does indeed make sense.
I will come back to this thread in a few weeks if all goes well and I do not have any other questions or concerns about this subject and let you all know how it goes.
Until then though I am all ears... or eyes I guess, for other suggestions or tips on already great suggestions.

Hey Erica, nice to see you here!
Both of my dogs are the same way. My old guy has improved a lot over the years and pretty much likes everyone now, but you've seen how my pup can be.

I know that you can feel pressured to make your dog be one that anyone can meet and pet, but it's really not necessary. For a while Panzer was getting really barky at everyone that we would see on our walks, but she has improved immensely since I stopped insisting that she interact with strangers.

We live in an apartment building and walk through city streets every day, but I never stop to let strangers meet her. I will talk to people as we keep on walking by, and now she can walk by people with no problems at all. At first I was trying to get strangers to give her treats, but people are waaayyy too unpredictable, and it was making her worse.

The same applies to people coming over. When company comes over she is crated at first, only let out after they've been here a while, and she is allowed to approach them on her own terms.

Again, glad you made it here. Ed has so much amazing information on his site, it has helped me countless times.