11 week old growls and barks at strangers

[studio1one]

Hi,

First post, great informative forum here.

We have an 11 week old bitch, we got her at 9 weeks from the breeder. When we went to see her at 7 weeks at the breeder she came up to us, was really friendly and confident. Met both the mother and father, dad just wanted to play with us, mother was a bit reserved. Hip scores great on both mother and father, liked the environment the puppies came from.

When she first arrived with us she was friendly to everyone, visitors family etc. she has bonded amazingly well with me, my wife and the two kids. The kids pick her up, carry her around and she submits to all behaviour. Really submissive to my wife, always lays on her back for her when she comes in from work, just wants to spend time with all the family and is very affectionate. I work from home and so spend 24/7 with her and spend a lot of time playing, teaching her etc. She already knows commands for down, sit and recall. she knows the difference between her ball, her rope and her kong and will collect whichever item you ask upon request.

Basically what I am saying is she is a bright loving fantastic dog, however she is really wary of strangers and will back herself into a corner and growl and bark at any visitors she doesn't know. Unfortunately none of the vets near me use the same brand of vacs that she got when at the breeder so we have had to start her vacs again and she can't go out and socialise until this Saturday. we have loads of guests and visitors and nothing has happened that I can put my finger on to change from being friendly to everyone, to being nervous and aggressive.

I am a little concerned as to why this trait has developed and the best way to deal with it. I ignore her nervousness and ask guests to ignore her until she is ready but with having young kids, their friends love her and really want to pet her and be with her, which leads to a lot of stress on the puppies part.

Really I am looking for a bit of reassurance that she will be able to be socialised out of this because it is new territory to me and 11 weeks seems very young to get fearful and aggressive to strangers.

[Konotashi]

If she's backing up into corners and basically trying to hide from strangers, it sounds like it's out of fear.

Have your friends ignore her, as attempting to pet her will make her feel cornered and scare her even more. Have them toss little bits of food so she understands that their presence is a good thing. Eventually, after she's fine with that, you can move on.

If you can't get kids and such to leave her alone, then put her away if you know they'll stress her out.

[studio1one]

Hi,

yes it is definitely fear, no doubt about it. Like I say I do try to get people to ignore her and I ignore her fearful behaviour and reward social behaviour. I will maybe crate her when groups of kids arrive. 5 nine year old girls can be very noisy.

[lrodptl]

Even if she is charging them it could be and probably is fear. I have a fear aggressive 2 year old who overreacted to strangers since day 1. Disagree with the behavior which may be nerve related (not fixable but manageable). My dog must be in a down stay if strangers are approaching or coming to our door. We try to provide treats to strangers entering our yard/home. He is not allowed to approach or interact until he's calm (5 minutes seems like forever). BTW,we socialized him with 6-10 dogs a day everyday since his first days here and an equal amount of people. He can't be trusted,ever,though he is usually very calm when we meet people,other dogs outside.

[PaddyD]

Your puppy is a baby. Teach your children and friends to treat her with respect and give her space. She is not a toy or stuffed animal to be picked up and handled. Start over with her and help her to feel safe and not overwhelmed. Let her come to you (as much as you can) rather than approaching her.

[studio1one]

Hi Paddy,

I am fully aware she is not a toy or stuffed animal. She has no issues with my family or me at all, she greets everyone with great joy, loves to be with them and petted and wants to spend as much time as she can close and playing with all of us, including the young ones. I have no doubt she feels safe at home, she plays tug of war, loves her ball and shows no fear or nervousness at all and if she wants her own space she is given it/ (although she very rarely want it).

Also as stated I request all my friends ignore her until she is happy to come to them, which they do but 9 year old girls don't understand as well as adults and can crowd her even though I try to avoid it.

However if anyone outside of our close family group approach her she gets very nervous and barks at them. I also have regular couriers and such coming and going from the property 2-3 times a day, which she will also bark at.

I am far from new at owning dogs or puppies and chose carefully from a good breeder with well known dogs and hip scores all the way up to the great grandparents. I met both parents of the puppy and both had a good temperament. this is the first time I have had a puppy that shows fear aggression at such a young age and I can guarantee she has not had any negative experiences too influence her in that way.

[lrodptl]

Originally Posted by studio1one

Hi Paddy,

I am fully aware she is not a toy or stuffed animal. She has no issues with my family or me at all, she greets everyone with great joy, loves to be with them and petted and wants to spend as much time as she can close and playing with all of us, including the young ones. I have no doubt she feels safe at home, she plays tug of war, loves her ball and shows no fear or nervousness at all and if she wants her own space she is given it/ (although she very rarely want it).

Also as stated I request all my friends ignore her until she is happy to come to them, which they do but 9 year old girls don't understand as well as adults and can crowd her even though I try to avoid it.

However if anyone outside of our close family group approach her she gets very nervous and barks at them. I also have regular couriers and such coming and going from the property 2-3 times a day, which she will also bark at.

I am far from new at owning dogs or puppies and chose carefully from a good breeder with well known dogs and hip scores all the way up to the great grandparents. I met both parents of the puppy and both had a good temperament. this is the first time I have had a puppy that shows fear aggression at such a young age and I can guarantee she has not had any negative experiences too influence her in that way.

I went through the exact same thing. Paid $3000 for a pup from a breeder that I had purchased an extraordinary pup from 12 years prior. Second day home (8 weeks old) he started frantically barking,hackles up at anyone that came near us. That became charging people in a very aggressive manner. As the breeder and 2 behaviorists told us,sometimes pups like this slip through. Fast forward 2 years. He would still charge at people coming in our home or yard in a very frightening manner if we allowed him to. He would scare the **** out of anyone if they startled him. We simply had to learn to be very careful with him and we've worked,socialized and exercised him to extreme levels. He's much much better but the fear is there,just below the surface and we can see it. He's a weak nerved dog,it's that simple and he has to be watched when strangers approached. The paradox is that he is very very gentle with us and others when he becomes comfortable. Good Luck. Hopefully yours is bad manners/behavior and not weak nerves. It was heartbreaking at first.

[studio1one]

thanks for that reply, nice to know I'm not the only one. the really hard thing is that when we went to see her at 7 weeks at the breeders, as soon as we entered the puppies pen (indoors, plenty of space and toys around), she and all the others came up tails wagging and greeted us really happily. When she first came home to us for the first week she would happily run up and greet any visitors. She had her first trip out to the vet a week ago last saturday for her vacs and she has not been the same since.

I'm hoping that she will just grow out of it, when the postman comes she will go up to him to see him that at a certain point of closeness she backs off and runs away then barks and growls. As he leaves she follows him excitedly at a distance, not showing any signs of aggression, until he comes back to scan the barcode on the door, where again she looks happy and excited until a certain proximity, where the fear barking and growling take over again.

I have some hope that she will grow out of it because she is not generally a nervous or skittish pup. We live out on a farm in the country and have a lot of heavy farm traffic going up and down our nearest road. She happily walks next to me on her lead, unbothered by anything except the largest wagons that make her jump a bit. Noises etc don't scare her at all, neither do strong winds.

It is only being approached by strangers that gets her going.

[lrodptl]

Originally Posted by studio1one

thanks for that reply, nice to know I'm not the only one. the really hard thing is that when we went to see her at 7 weeks at the breeders, as soon as we entered the puppies pen (indoors, plenty of space and toys around), she and all the others came up tails wagging and greeted us really happily. When she first came home to us for the first week she would happily run up and greet any visitors. She had her first trip out to the vet a week ago last saturday for her vacs and she has not been the same since.

I'm hoping that she will just grow out of it, when the postman comes she will go up to him to see him that at a certain point of closeness she backs off and runs away then barks and growls. As he leaves she follows him excitedly at a distance, not showing any signs of aggression, until he comes back to scan the barcode on the door, where again she looks happy and excited until a certain proximity, where the fear barking and growling take over again.

I have some hope that she will grow out of it because she is not generally a nervous or skittish pup. We live out on a farm in the country and have a lot of heavy farm traffic going up and down our nearest road. She happily walks next to me on her lead, unbothered by anything except the largest wagons that make her jump a bit. Noises etc don't scare her at all, neither do strong winds.

It is only being approached by strangers that gets her going.

I don't know why our breeder (New Skete) with all their volunteers who help socialize their pups didn't see anything alarming in Fritz. They were shocked when I called them and told them that it started on day1. Fritz had another temperament issue-submissive peeing. I was so disappointed and unhappy but through tons of reading and work we uncovered a lot of beauty in this dog. He certainly made me face my own issues which were contributing to his fearfulness. I do realize now that a lot of characteristics they exhibit as pups resolve on their own but aggression,especially fear aggression from a nervous dog needs to be addressed/handled from day 1. Exercise,Discipline,Affection ain't enough. Hopefully,your pup works through and it's just puppyness but I'd start learning and evaluating immediately. Stay calm and hopeful.

[Stevenzachsmom]

What vacs did your pup have? Maybe this is a possible side effect? If so, hopefully it will pass.