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Overprotective Dog



 
 
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  #1  
Old October 8th 05, 12:43 AM
Erin Padfield
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Default Overprotective Dog

I have a about 18 month old GSD/Lab (spayed) mix named Priscilla. I am
her third owner, the first one I don't know much about other then she
didn't have Scilla long but I do know second owners left her outside
without much human contact at all. After having her for about 6 months
they finally decided that she was so unhappy that they asked me if I
wanted her.

Everything is good except that she seems to be very overprotective, if
someone knocks on the door, walks by the house, walks by the car when I
take her for a ride, or just comes to close to me she will bark and
growl aggressive. This is especially true when other dogs come around.
For example, today I was over at my aunts house and I brought Scilla
with me. We decided that it would be OK if she and my aunts Boxer
played a bit so she brought her out but when Casey came to say "hi" to
me Priscilla fought with her. I mean she just wasn't having it, her fur
would go up, she would show her teeth, and she would out right fight
her. However, the rest of the time when Casey wasn't trying to come and
see me Scilla would chase her around and play like nothing happened.

I was wondering what might have caused her to become so overprotective
and what I can do to get her to chill a bit because I am worried that
she is going to eventfully bite another dog or possibly a human.

  #2  
Old October 8th 05, 02:34 AM
Rocky
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Posts: n/a
Default

"Erin Padfield" said in
rec.pets.dogs.behavior:

I was wondering what might have caused her to become so
overprotective and what I can do to get her to chill a bit
because I am worried that she is going to eventfully bite
another dog or possibly a human.


Has she shown any signs of human aggression? Human and dog
aggression are not necessarily one and the same.

Priscilla (good on you for adopting her!) needs at least more
well-supervised socialisation and some good hands-on obedience
training. She sounds like a dog who needs some more confidence.

Also, has she had a good general veterinary checkup recently?

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.
  #3  
Old October 8th 05, 12:30 PM
flick
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Posts: n/a
Default

"Erin Padfield" wrote in message
oups.com...
I have a about 18 month old GSD/Lab (spayed) mix named Priscilla. I am
her third owner, the first one I don't know much about other then she
didn't have Scilla long but I do know second owners left her outside
without much human contact at all. After having her for about 6 months
they finally decided that she was so unhappy that they asked me if I
wanted her.

Everything is good except that she seems to be very overprotective, if
someone knocks on the door, walks by the house, walks by the car when I
take her for a ride, or just comes to close to me she will bark and
growl aggressive. This is especially true when other dogs come around.
For example, today I was over at my aunts house and I brought Scilla
with me. We decided that it would be OK if she and my aunts Boxer
played a bit so she brought her out but when Casey came to say "hi" to
me Priscilla fought with her. I mean she just wasn't having it, her fur
would go up, she would show her teeth, and she would out right fight
her. However, the rest of the time when Casey wasn't trying to come and
see me Scilla would chase her around and play like nothing happened.

I was wondering what might have caused her to become so overprotective
and what I can do to get her to chill a bit because I am worried that
she is going to eventfully bite another dog or possibly a human.


All dogs can bite, and it's best to remember that.

Obedience training will help. It will change her perception of your
relationship. Priscilla will learn useful commands, and also that you
aren't her *possession,* but the 2 of you are a pack, and you're the top dog
in the pack. Right now, part of what's going on is she thinks she owns you,
so she's going to guard you against other people and dogs. Just like her
favorite toy, or her food.

Socialization will help. She is probably somewhat fearful of strangers,
because she didn't get much interaction with them when she was younger.
Expose her to being around people (while she's leashed and controlled), act
unhappy if she acts up, "Oh, cut it out!", etc.

Her getting older is going to mellow her some, probably. She's a teenager
at 18 months.

JMO, you oughtta prepare for the possibility that Priscilla may remain
protective of you and you may need to *manage* her. All dogs are
territorial, to a greater or lesser extent. That is normal. You might not
be able to quell that natural instinct entirely. Crate training and
obedience training will save your butt, then. And there are some dogs that
will just not be friendly with strange dogs, ever. I happen to think it
isn't normal to be able to take every dog to a dog park and watch them play
nicely. They're dogs, not toddlers (and even toddlers fight sometimes).

I've owned a number of dogs like yours, and I've got several now. I don't
see it as a character fault, and if we have company I manage it by crating
the dogs. Our dogs like the kids' playmates just fine, but act
uncomfortable when they roughhouse. I crate the dogs, and that's not an
admission of defeat. The dogs feel safe, they think they're "off duty," and
nobody gets hurt and I don't get sued wry grin. But then again, I don't
want dogs that show a burglar where the family silver is, or will assume if
somebody comes in through the window or kicks in the door, they're a buddy
here to visit. IMO, you can't have it both ways.

Heh, Priscilla would fit into our household just fine.

flick 100785











  #4  
Old October 8th 05, 08:36 PM
Erin Padfield
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

She has gone to obedience training and she does everything I ask her to
do.

And it's not just me she seems overprotective of though. Our neighbor
has a Pitbull named Max who Scilla quickly became friends with. Our
feces are kind of low in the back yard and those of us with dogs can
jump them pretty easily. Scilla has jumped our fence a couple of times
so she could go play with Max but she he stopped doing it after I made
it clear she couldn't go over there. Anyway, the person on the other
side of Max's yard has a dog named Mini who is a mid sized dog and one
day she jumped the fence and came into Max's yard. Scilla saw her
though the window and went ballistic. Barking, growling, her fur was up
and everything. When I thought Mini had went back into her own yard I
took Scilla outside so she could go potty, pretty soon it became clear
that Mini hadn't gone back into her own yard as Scilla saw her and
again went nuts. This time she was even showing her teeth even though
Mini was being sweet and trying to play with her though the fence.

Thanks for all the help everyone.

flick wrote:
"Erin Padfield" wrote in message
oups.com...
I have a about 18 month old GSD/Lab (spayed) mix named Priscilla. I am
her third owner, the first one I don't know much about other then she
didn't have Scilla long but I do know second owners left her outside
without much human contact at all. After having her for about 6 months
they finally decided that she was so unhappy that they asked me if I
wanted her.

Everything is good except that she seems to be very overprotective, if
someone knocks on the door, walks by the house, walks by the car when I
take her for a ride, or just comes to close to me she will bark and
growl aggressive. This is especially true when other dogs come around.
For example, today I was over at my aunts house and I brought Scilla
with me. We decided that it would be OK if she and my aunts Boxer
played a bit so she brought her out but when Casey came to say "hi" to
me Priscilla fought with her. I mean she just wasn't having it, her fur
would go up, she would show her teeth, and she would out right fight
her. However, the rest of the time when Casey wasn't trying to come and
see me Scilla would chase her around and play like nothing happened.

I was wondering what might have caused her to become so overprotective
and what I can do to get her to chill a bit because I am worried that
she is going to eventfully bite another dog or possibly a human.


All dogs can bite, and it's best to remember that.

Obedience training will help. It will change her perception of your
relationship. Priscilla will learn useful commands, and also that you
aren't her *possession,* but the 2 of you are a pack, and you're the top dog
in the pack. Right now, part of what's going on is she thinks she owns you,
so she's going to guard you against other people and dogs. Just like her
favorite toy, or her food.

Socialization will help. She is probably somewhat fearful of strangers,
because she didn't get much interaction with them when she was younger.
Expose her to being around people (while she's leashed and controlled), act
unhappy if she acts up, "Oh, cut it out!", etc.

Her getting older is going to mellow her some, probably. She's a teenager
at 18 months.

JMO, you oughtta prepare for the possibility that Priscilla may remain
protective of you and you may need to *manage* her. All dogs are
territorial, to a greater or lesser extent. That is normal. You might not
be able to quell that natural instinct entirely. Crate training and
obedience training will save your butt, then. And there are some dogs that
will just not be friendly with strange dogs, ever. I happen to think it
isn't normal to be able to take every dog to a dog park and watch them play
nicely. They're dogs, not toddlers (and even toddlers fight sometimes).

I've owned a number of dogs like yours, and I've got several now. I don't
see it as a character fault, and if we have company I manage it by crating
the dogs. Our dogs like the kids' playmates just fine, but act
uncomfortable when they roughhouse. I crate the dogs, and that's not an
admission of defeat. The dogs feel safe, they think they're "off duty," and
nobody gets hurt and I don't get sued wry grin. But then again, I don't
want dogs that show a burglar where the family silver is, or will assume if
somebody comes in through the window or kicks in the door, they're a buddy
here to visit. IMO, you can't have it both ways.

Heh, Priscilla would fit into our household just fine.

flick 100785










  #5  
Old October 9th 05, 03:16 AM
Erin Padfield
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

She barks at people but she doesn't growl or show her teeth. A couple
of people have come into the yard and she's barked very aggressively
but once she was able to sniff them and see that they where OK she
would leave them alone.

As for the vet question she went in Aug.

Rocky wrote:
"Erin Padfield" said in
rec.pets.dogs.behavior:

I was wondering what might have caused her to become so
overprotective and what I can do to get her to chill a bit
because I am worried that she is going to eventfully bite
another dog or possibly a human.


Has she shown any signs of human aggression? Human and dog
aggression are not necessarily one and the same.

Priscilla (good on you for adopting her!) needs at least more
well-supervised socialisation and some good hands-on obedience
training. She sounds like a dog who needs some more confidence.

Also, has she had a good general veterinary checkup recently?

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.


  #6  
Old October 9th 05, 04:08 AM
Rocky
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

"Erin Padfield" said in
rec.pets.dogs.behavior:

She barks at people but she doesn't growl or show her
teeth. A couple of people have come into the yard and she's
barked very aggressively but once she was able to sniff
them and see that they where OK she would leave them alone.


That's OK.

When you walk her around outside the yard, past other people
and yards, does she behave similarly?

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.
  #7  
Old October 9th 05, 04:58 AM
Erin Padfield
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

She looks at them for a few seconds out of curiosty but she doesn't
bark and she doesn't really try to go over to them or anything. Even
though, one day I was walking home and we walked by a guy she didn't
know. He came up to her and she let him pet her. She was really very
sweet, playful towards him.

Same thing with dogs in there own yards, she'll pretty much ignore them
except for when we are walking right by their fence. Then she will
sniff them though the fence and get excited but she doesn't get worked
up like when a dog gets close to her yard, unless the other dog starts
growling at her that is. Then she will growl back, look the other dog
straight in the eyes, and the whole nine yards.

  #8  
Old October 10th 05, 01:04 AM
Rocky
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

"Erin Padfield" said in
rec.pets.dogs.behavior:

Same thing with dogs in there own yards, she'll pretty much
ignore them except for when we are walking right by their
fence. Then she will sniff them though the fence and get
excited but she doesn't get worked up like when a dog gets
close to her yard, unless the other dog starts growling at
her that is. Then she will growl back, look the other dog
straight in the eyes, and the whole nine yards.


Don't let her do that - sniffing and eyeing other dogs through
the fence, that is. That's probably the worst way to introduce
dogs, one on leash and the other guarding its territory.

It's time for some in-person training. Start talking to people
with well-trained dogs and ask if they have any recommendations.

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.
  #9  
Old October 10th 05, 01:35 PM
flick
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

"Erin Padfield" wrote in message
oups.com...
She has gone to obedience training and she does everything I ask her to
do.

And it's not just me she seems overprotective of though. Our neighbor
has a Pitbull named Max who Scilla quickly became friends with. Our
feces are kind of low in the back yard and those of us with dogs can
jump them pretty easily. Scilla has jumped our fence a couple of times
so she could go play with Max but she he stopped doing it after I made
it clear she couldn't go over there. Anyway, the person on the other
side of Max's yard has a dog named Mini who is a mid sized dog and one
day she jumped the fence and came into Max's yard. Scilla saw her
though the window and went ballistic. Barking, growling, her fur was up
and everything. When I thought Mini had went back into her own yard I
took Scilla outside so she could go potty, pretty soon it became clear
that Mini hadn't gone back into her own yard as Scilla saw her and
again went nuts. This time she was even showing her teeth even though
Mini was being sweet and trying to play with her though the fence.

Thanks for all the help everyone.


I think you should raise your fence so other dogs can't get in, and
Priscilla can't get out. Very normal for a dog to guard its territory.
Plus you wouldn't want your dog to get out into traffic, I'm sure.

flick 100785


 




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