I've got a mini dachshund (Magnus) who's a little under two years old
now. For the most part, I don't have any complaints about him. He has
a tendency to chew on cardboard boxes, but otherwise he doesn't cause
many problems. However, he's not very friendly to other people and
dogs and it's really annoying because I'm afraid people will think
he's aggressive and I'm tired of apologizing to people with, "Oh, he's
just nervous. He's a nice dog, I swear."

If I'm walking him and a stranger walks anywhere near us, he'll start
barking and running from side to side in front of them, jumping around
and tugging at the leash. I think it's mostly him being nervous rather
than aggressive, but I could easily see how someone would think he
might be dangerous. If the person squats down and holds a hand out,
Magnus will bark a little and then walk up and sniff the hand. He
doesn't instantly become their best friend, but it's better than the
usual crazy barking, I guess. However, once the person stands up
again, he resumes his crazed barking.

When another dog approaches, he's also quite nervous. I think that's a
result of being overwhelmed by overly-enthusiastic dogs in the past.
Lots of idiots in our old neighborhood didn't keep their dogs on
leashes, so it wasn't uncommon for a 70lb Staffordshire Terrier to
come charging at us. None of them have been aggressive, really, but if
you had someone 7 times your size running at you, you'd probably be
freaked out too. So now if Magnus meets a dog (even a fairly calm,
friendly one), he'll do a couple seconds of sniffing, but if the other
dog makes any sudden (or even not-so-sudden) movements, Magnus will
start barking and getting defensive. Again, I don't think he'd ever go
for the other dog, but I'm afraid another dog might overreact and bite
Magnus's head off.

What can we do? Magnus is super friendly to me and my girlfriend (and
anyone he's met a number of times) but terrible with strangers. As far
as I know, he's never had a bad experience with other humans, so we're
not sure why he acts like that. We took him to a dog training class
once a week for 6 weeks to get him used to being around other people
and dogs but it didn't really seem to help. How can we get him to just
chill out and be friendly to other people/dogs?

And, as a bonus question, is there a good way to stop him from barking
like a maniac every time people with nearby apartments open their
front doors? Whenever there's any noise from the hallway outside our
apartment, the fur on his back stands up and he starts growling and
barking. I wouldn't really care if he just did that when someone
knocked on our door, but I'd rather he not do it just because he can
hear someone quietly talking in the hallway or opening their own
apartment door.

"bluecalx" wrote in message
...
I've got a mini dachshund (Magnus) who's a little under two years old
now. For the most part, I don't have any complaints about him. He has
a tendency to chew on cardboard boxes, but otherwise he doesn't cause
many problems. However, he's not very friendly to other people and
dogs and it's really annoying because I'm afraid people will think
he's aggressive and I'm tired of apologizing to people with, "Oh, he's
just nervous. He's a nice dog, I swear."

If I'm walking him and a stranger walks anywhere near us, he'll start
barking and running from side to side in front of them, jumping around
and tugging at the leash. I think it's mostly him being nervous rather
than aggressive, but I could easily see how someone would think he
might be dangerous. If the person squats down and holds a hand out,
Magnus will bark a little and then walk up and sniff the hand. He
doesn't instantly become their best friend, but it's better than the
usual crazy barking, I guess. However, once the person stands up
again, he resumes his crazed barking.

Without seeing his body language, I can't say for sure. But it sounds more
like alarm barking or excitement or "I want attention" than "I'm gonna bite
you."

When another dog approaches, he's also quite nervous. I think that's a
result of being overwhelmed by overly-enthusiastic dogs in the past.
Lots of idiots in our old neighborhood didn't keep their dogs on
leashes, so it wasn't uncommon for a 70lb Staffordshire Terrier to
come charging at us. None of them have been aggressive, really, but if
you had someone 7 times your size running at you, you'd probably be
freaked out too. So now if Magnus meets a dog (even a fairly calm,
friendly one), he'll do a couple seconds of sniffing, but if the other
dog makes any sudden (or even not-so-sudden) movements, Magnus will
start barking and getting defensive. Again, I don't think he'd ever go
for the other dog, but I'm afraid another dog might overreact and bite
Magnus's head off.

IMO it's a good idea to NEVER assume that 2 dogs are going to be friendly
towards each other. And even when dogs aren't going to out-and-out fight,
they'll go through a routine of standing stiffly alert, sniffing each other,
and then ultimately (usually) one dog will try to play with the other one.
They don't greet each other like people do.

However, if Magnus truly doesn't get along with other dogs - well, some dogs
don't.

What can we do? Magnus is super friendly to me and my girlfriend (and
anyone he's met a number of times) but terrible with strangers. As far
as I know, he's never had a bad experience with other humans, so we're
not sure why he acts like that. We took him to a dog training class
once a week for 6 weeks to get him used to being around other people
and dogs but it didn't really seem to help. How can we get him to just
chill out and be friendly to other people/dogs?

It doesn't sound like he's being unfriendly - just noisy.

flick 100785

And, as a bonus question, is there a good way to stop him from barking
like a maniac every time people with nearby apartments open their
front doors? Whenever there's any noise from the hallway outside our
apartment, the fur on his back stands up and he starts growling and
barking. I wouldn't really care if he just did that when someone
knocked on our door, but I'd rather he not do it just because he can
hear someone quietly talking in the hallway or opening their own
apartment door.