Hi all,

I am writing because my 2 year old Pitbull/ Retriever Rescue dog is having a few particular issues that I am having trouble rectifying. He was 8 months old when first housed in a shelter and we didn't adopt him until he was almost 2. He was not rescued from an SPCA, but from another no kill shelter. He has diagnosed anxiety and is on medication for it. It seems to help a little. We also have gotten him a thunder shirt to wrap him tight and attempt to make him feel safe. His trainer has worked with him and us on establishing a pack structure, working with him using positive reinforcement and corrections using a dominant/ aggressive dog collar and many other things.

His biggest behavior problem is being in the house at the same time as new people. We have tried introducing him to new people outside of the house, in the driveway, having him come down from being crated to seeing the new people in the house. He becomes very aggressive toward others in the house for the first probably 20 or so min. After a period of the person not looking at him, while he is on the leash and dom/ agg collar and him shaking and getting over his anxiety hump, he will still lunge and make a growl like sound when the person moves, gets up, scares him in any way.

Any suggestions on how to introduce him to new people in our house? He is also running full force at our glass slider when the UPS man comes to the house. I can get him to walk away and calm down once they're not on our porch, but he jumps and barks at the door until they are gone. On the odd occasion, I can get them to stand at the door and not look at him, he will calm down and sit at the door, but not allow them in. He's amazing with my family and a few select friends, our neighbor and their small dog, but anyone he hasn't met before we lived here, he has a REALLY hard time meeting and being ok with.

Please help! We're running out of ideas!
Jocelyn

Does he really have to meet new people? Most of my dogs, past and present, were perfectly happy with just their 'family pack.' They had no need of others. For the most part, I don't allow my guys to interact with others anyway. I do have one extremly social and outgoing boy, but most often, my dogs are content to be left alone. (herding breeds)

The way your guy is lunging, I would worry about someone getting hurt.

Pack structure and OB will be your best option (marker training being the best way for an anxious dog to gain confidence). Once he's established you as his leader, you can start working on teaching him to ignore all other people. Keep him tethered and secured away from visitors' reach, just in case.

Start slowly, at a distance where he is not lunging and desensitize him to strangers' presence. You will become a pez dispenser of treats and games when he ignores others. It will take time, he may never be dependable with strangers. Always watch his body language closely to avoid a problem.

I have a fearful dog now. All I did for him was teach him to ignore strangers - I don't allow people to reach for or touch him. I did get him used to two other trusted people in case there's ever a time I am unable to care for him (ie: accident or whatever) so that they can at least get him fed and walked, but that is the extent of his interaction with outsiders.

If I have guests or workers at the house, he is crated securely in another room, door closed.

I am sure there will be others with ideas for you as well. Weekends can be slow around here when everyone is training.

YOu should get more responses during the week.

Read through these articles and see if anything here may help. I have learned a lot thanks to them:
http://leerburg.com/qafear.htm
Best wishes!

Hello!

I am NOT an expert but have some experience fostering fearful dogs.

How long have you had him? My most fearful foster was in my home for a couple of months before he began to relax. He was most fearful of strangers and people coming and going in the house. I always crated him when we had guests and tried to be very consistant with how we handled people coming over, whether surprise guests or expected ones. It helped him to know what to do. Before he was adopted, we would get a knock at the door and he would go to "his room" where he went to his crate and the door was shut. establishing a routine with him was what most helped his confidence, and he began to trust me more. I dog sit for his new owners becasue of his anxiety, and the first time back at my house after two months, he remembered where his crate was and went right back to the same routine as if he'd never left.

With the advice and help from people here, I never rushed him or forced him to do anything that scared him. He was not aggressive, but I think would have been had he been pushed into an uncomfortable position. If I had kept him, I believe it would have been a very long time if ever before he could have just been loose in the house with guests. His adoptive family had to come to my home several times before they could even get close to him.

If he has only been with you a short time, (I'd say less than a year), I would just work on getting him into a rock solid routine and let him escape to his crate when you have guests. He'll still know they are there, but he will feel safe in his own space. I think tethering him to you might also be a good idea to help control his reaction to UPS and mailmen. That way you're right there to distract him.

Corrections increased the anxiety with my foster, so I didn't use them. I'm not against them, but this guy just couldn't take them.

Experts here will correct me if I'm wrong with anything I've said, and will give you much better advice.

How does he do on walks? DOes he react when you pass strangers?

Hi Jocelyn, welcome.

Let me start by giving you a great big kudo for rescuing this boy from the shelter. And as you've read from the other posts, you aren't alone with this type of behavior.

I also have a rescue, very different circumstances than what your boy has been through, but a tough start none the less. Much like your boy, I don't have a lot of information about his first 10 months, but it was pretty obvious there were some unfavorable times during the critical learning, bonding and imprint stages. God only knows what their experiences have been, and really, at this point, it doesn't matter.

What does matter now is how we show them what a stable life can be. A life with no more fear. And in order to do that, we have to remove those fearful circumstances. A lot can be done thru exposure, but if it's done too quickly or in overwhelming circumstances, things can easily be made worse. They will just learn a different way of dealing with it and often that will manifest in aggression - if they didn't already come with it.

Were you told he was people aggressive when you got him from the shelter or is this something that has just started recently?

My boy had two bad bites when I got him and he was set for destruction. Today, it's extremely apparent he does not care for the company of people, much like you've indicated, outside his family pack. He was a mess when he came to me though and it took a couple of months just to get him to relax into his new environment. We are at a point now though where he is perfectly willing to live and let live, except for a very specific approach by outsiders.

And in our social world this may sound a bit odd, but in his mind, he's making a simple request. He's not out there attacking the UPS man, could care less about other dogs and is perfectly fine, relaxing in a house full of company, in his own room. I know this about him and have put in the required adjustments to protect him and ensure the safety of others.

Many people that get dogs do so for social reasons. They like the idea of a dog wandering around the house, pleasantly greeting company and providing that often needed source of entertainment or distraction when conversations wane. And some folks even enjoy showing them off. What's not to love about dogs. But for some dogs, often common in rescues, these social type settings can be terrifying and it's important that we recognize this.

It was a good six months before many of our guests even knew I had a shepherd in the house. He became quite used to the comings and goings of people into our home - never met them but knew they were there. And although he is far from perfect yet, there are a few trusted guests (a major emphasis on my trust - and absolutely no children) that he is able to relax comfortably around. He has his place, no one goes near him and he trusts me to enforce this.

Some dogs have a difficult time meeting the social expectations people feel they need to put on them. I guess my question to you would be....are you willing and able to provide the trusting environment that he so desperately needs right now. Provide him with the time he needs to change his mental state, his way of being - from shy and fearful to peaceful and confident in his surroundings and not let anyone interfere with that.

From what I understand you saying, he entered a shelter environment at 8 months and was in those cages for 16 months. You've done an incredible thing by removing him. He now needs to slowly learn what the outside world is like. He needs to learn about you, your home and your expectations well before he's ever introduced to the expectations, however small they may be, of others. And you need to learn about him.

How old is he now and how long have you had him? He's on medication now? Can I ask what that is? And you mentioned using physical corrections. Can I ask what those circumstances are?

Thank you ladies for your responses so far. They have given me good food for thought. To answer your questions, I have had him one year and 15 days. He has been on medication since march and is accepting it well. He is on a form of prozac. He also has food allergies that we spent over 5 months doing food tests and med tests and was able to narrow it down to a form of grain. We think corn. When I first adopted him, I had worked with him at the shelter on basic obedience out in the public on walks and he did well. He did not have a bite history, neither does he now. When he lunges, he is always on leash. I do not allow him near people at home or in the public around those he has not thoroughly been ok with. He loves my mom, step dad, niece, nephew, neighbors and their small dog. We can take him for a long hike on a trail and he can meet other dogs with no problem and accept the owners into his space, but I do not allow them to pet him. We have tried hot dog vendor activities in my neighborhood (where hes most anxious), at Petco, at the park (not the dog park) and with other trainers and friends. He, after lots of patience and exposure to a new person, will accept them into the house, will accept them and be friendly to the point of wanting to play fetch with them and even LOVING people like my mom, step dad and neighbors. The big problem I have is for new people coming over to visit my newborn (which hes done amazing with and was introduced appropriately to), the UPS/ mailman ringing the doorbell- he runs straight at the door and jumps at the glass and scares them away which is what Ive worked so hard to stop. I wont allow jumping, but the door is just a spot I cant break it. If I can manage to run there first, I can block him with my legs and he will sit calmly enough to get a collar and leash on for us to either go outside and greet (which he will at times accept well) or go to "bed" in his crate in another room. He does bark and jump in his crate, but never destroys anything. He gets himself so worked up knowing there are people here that he cannot see. We worked to de-sensitize the doorbell, its just the appearance of new people that makes him nuts. When we are out on walks in our neighborhood, he does make noises like a growl and pull a little, but Ive worked hard on the leave it command and physical pops of the leash with him on his dominant/aggressive collar from leerburg and I do the corrections in the same manner that Ed does in his dominant/aggressive video. Hes a hard dog for SURE! On a walk, when told to leave it and at times given a correction if he doesnt listen, he will sit infront of me, look up at me and whine. I know Im interpreting his noises, but its almost to say what am I supposed to do here. He looks for direction. Hes really good in new locations around new people and dogs, its the familiar and every day he is having difficulty with. We do not have a fenced in yard, so hes not allowed out unless on leash, so his exercise is limited to walks, hikes when warm, playing in the water on our walks/hikes and playing fetch for a long time in our yard or in the house, and playing tug with Daddy. Thank you for your help and suggestions. I am going to be starting a new command. The Go to bed command. When someone new is coming, or ups rings the doorbell, he will go upstairs to his crate (thats the hopes). Im dedicated and love him dearly. When its just us or just our family, hes amazing. He doesnt bother the baby, stays in place while were eating, listens to commands, plays well, no food agggression, plays with my neighbors terrier WELL and even play boughs. I couldnt ask for a better dog and hes gotten over a LOT of problems. We just need to fine tune these last parts. He isnt one of those dogs that I would allow downstairs during a party, but incase we need to go away, or cannot come home, he needs to be ok with others to let him out or feed him. The only people he will allow to do that are my parents and my elderly neighbors. The neighbors arent comfortable taking him out, but will love him up when hes outside. My parents dont live that close and its a pain to have them drive up every time we need someone. I want to hire a dog sitter, but its so hard to introduce someone new. Oh and he previously was great at the vet, now is scared of it because of a bad interaction with a male vet tech.

Thoughts? Ill take any suggestions. Thanks for reading my lengthy reply. I love my boy. I just wish I knew what to do!