Hi everyone,

Thanks for all the responses and ideas! My general sense is that he may be a bit insecure and trying to dominate the stranger, show him that it is his turf.

Here is my goal, I want this dog to be friendly/non-challenging to visitors and want to BE SURE that how I correct him when people do come does not make him resent their presence even more. He should be looking to me for direction/reaction to visitors and eventually develop the ability to discern the difference between welcome and "unwelcome" guests. It has been tough to socialize him to be friendly to people away from home because he already is! It's just on the home property. Any comments/ideas appreciated.

Chris

Its not necessary to let your dogs be pet by everyone so they're stable. Easier, yes. They do however, lose an edge in responsiveness. I don't let strangers, except children of course, pet my pups. Its important to note though, that when many people go this route they neglect to take their dogs out in public amongst people so they're confident around strangers. People can jostle my dogs and me and the dogs will not bite. They know thats not a threat. Screaming children have run up to them and they stand there calmly. Strangers can pet them but they don't enjoy it. Thats how I want it, but thats not for everyone.

I have seen many misbites from dogs whose handlers said were friendly with everyone. Thats why I say how the dog turns out is handler dependent. Whether or not you end up with a stable dog depends on the handler (assuming the genetics are decent).

Hi all. I find your comments very interesting. On the herding issue, I think that both thoughts on this are correct in a way. Herding instinct is an inhibited prey / hunt/pack instinct. Border collies almostr drive themselves nuts trying to fulfil all the places in a pack when herding! However, i do feel that this has been bred into dogs long enough to be safely called HERDING. Note that herding dogs, untrained in herding will often move onto biting and thereby fulfilling the attack side. make sense?

As for the attack training - in my country we do have a problem with crime and dogs that bite strangers are an asset and not a problem (yet!). However what I find is that many people start doing attack work and then get bored and move on and so have a half cocked gun for life! I have a small training school and am trying to change that in my own way, by educating people....
anyway my thoughts on nipping dogs are that it should be controlled and this surely can be acheived by training? My pack are certainly not allowed to take liberties with each other, my family or friends. It took some work and training, but they go the idea. I suggest firm handling and a definate redirection to the "no" attitude from the owner. In my country I would not recommend feeding the dog, but I guess thats okay (strangers/visitors feeding i mean!!!), where you are. They way I did it was to keep the dogs away until people were in the house and settled and then letting the dogs out and any bad behavior meant being put out again for a few minutes. Good behavior meant they could be part of the action and they learnt that people who came to visit were here to stay and would be around so they accepted them. I had to do it this way, because I dont want my dogs to accept people comig in the gate, for security reasons, but once inside and seated, then its okay. ( I figure that if they are inside and not meant to be I am going to have to rely on sending in my dogs to bite anyway!)

I've noticed something interesting that I remembered from chevrons post. When visitors are already in the house or on the property and THEN the dog is let out, his reaction is totally different, very friendly and then ignoring the visitor. I noticed this at my breeders as well, if the dogs saw me drive up, they were fierce in their pens but if let out after I was there away from view they were very sweet. Any ideas on the reasoning? Does the dog assume that you have already made the decision that this person is ok, and doesn't need to worry about it?

Vince,

Back to what you said earlier, I know the feeling. Only thing is I find that sometimes I have to read my OWN posts over three times just to figure out what the hell I'm trying to say!lol :rolleyes:

Welcome back Chuck. Where have you been? Or have I been blind and ran by your posts!

No Vince, your not blind. My computer has been giving me some trouble. Been real busy too. Not only that, but when there is so many intelligent thoughts being posted, sometimes there isn't a lot left to be said without repeating what someone else already said. Sometimes it's better for me to just read on and learn!

Nice to hear from you friend!