Find an aversion whether that be squirting water, or sound that be associated with a command to stop. Do not reward excitable behaviour or give it any attention it apart from the command and correction.
There MUST be things you are doing around the house that is encouraging this behaviour- more than likely showing attention and affection to other excitable behaviour so see if there are other things you can identify that you can correct so it with transfer to correcting this problem

I'm not really comfortable spraying her with water, sorry I just kind of always thought of it as being on the same level as those squirt collars and I'm definitely not comfortable with them. We have a sound ('aah!') that we use when she goes to do/is doing something she shouldn't be and we've been working on a 'quiet' command for when she is barking but she just didn't seem to take any notice of this at all.

I encourage her to be excitable when we're playing but never any other time & I've never had a problem up until now. Plus she's not acting excitable when this happens, simply aggressive so I really don't think it's a case of her not knowing when to stop playing Around the house she is very good about not being excitable when we tell her not to be. She has to sit before anyone pets her when we get home and she has to sit and stay before doors are opened for her. If she's excitable she's not allowed on the furniture and we get her to calm down with a time out if she's not listening.

The thing is that what she did wasn't at all normal for her. It's not like when she gets a little hyper or excitable and she's doing zoomies around the living room, it was something entirely different.

Good for you. Spraying and "correction" will only serve to hide a problem, and for the best results you want to keep the good trusting relationship with your dog, and find out what is going on.


Yes - definitley no "correction" needed.
Often when an adult dogs behaviour alters, it can be due to a medical reason UNLESS there is something obvious that has happened.

IF your relatives were winding her up, it may mean she is still stressed so that may literally just explain her postman reaction. Therefore, when the stress subsides physiologically, you may just find that she relaxes and her normal behaviour returns.

It sounds as if, though, something else has perhaps happened. What is her usual behaviour when the postman arrives?

Is it possible that the postman has teased her?

Or that something was posted that landed on her? It does happen - I've seen my dog lie by the door and an incoming small parcel land just beside her

My advice would be to give her a few days and just be normal. If you can keep her away from the post arriving, that is good. See how she reacts from behind a childgate or in another room (sorry, I'm assuming you will usually be there when postman arrives?).

If her behaviour continues and she's not behaved like this before when postie comes, I'd say then it's not stress but she is anxious when the postman arrives for some reason. It could be that she's associated something unpleasant with the postman (it may be something you never discover - e.g. the door slamming next to her just as he arrives). In which case you will need to start to desensitise her to his arrival and get her to associate the postman with nice things (there is a method to this).

If it still continues, a vet visit would be in order just to check her reaction is not due to something medical going on


Wys
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Great advice from Wys. I would also add that if the postman continues to upset Molly then you could consider getting a lockable postbox & position it away from the house so that the postman doesn't need to disturb Molly.

I agree that the excitement of visitors that have wound her up could be the reason for the aggressive behaviour. It sounds very much like Molly is feeling anxious & insecure about the house & this could well be due to your visitors, then the postman's arrival was the straw that broke the camel's back & just tipped her over the edge.

It would be a good idea to work on calm behaviours in & around the house & keep everything low key for a week or two to give Molly a chance to start feeling more secure & safe in the house. If her normal sleep patterns were disturbed by your visitors this could also add to the stress & irritability so that she's less able to cope with the minor things that don't usually bother her.

Good luck & I hope Molly gets back to normal soon.

Sounds like your weekend visitors have had quite an effect on Molly, but I'm sure you can stop the ankle biting again. Tilly stopped & started it numerous times. At the moment she's not doing it. hasn't been for over a month now since I started giving her the bach flower remedy drops.

Great advice from the others, do you normally have quite a strict daily routine?- which if broken by having victors at the weekend has upset Mollie's apple cart a bit .Also it must be annoying if they wound her up.

Have you changed her food at all? Some food can affect behaviour. If not, and she`s just stressed, how about a DAP diffuser? I had an old foster this worked well with.
I don`t know your routine, but some houses are calmer than others - it might be worth seeing if you can calm things down for a while to see if she responds - and maybe have a few gentle grooming sessions to relax her?

I agree with a vet check, and checking whether anything in her diet has changed. Did your family buy her any treats? They may have disagreed with her, like how Bakers can make anxiety/aggression worse in dogs due to all the e-numbers.
If it is "just" a behavioural thing due to the upset in her routine, desensitization is much better IMO than aversion techniques. One thing I've heard to stop dogs barking at people passing by is to get a friend to act as a stooge and walk past the window several times. You stand near the dog and when the dog is quiet (even if it's only for a second inbetween barking) you reward this. Keep going and the dog realises that people passing by brings isn't a big thing, and being quiet when they do so brings rewards! You could get a friend to stand outside posting things through your letterbox and reward Molly for calm behaviour, and see if a friend with a bike can be a stooge for cycling past the window too.

Thanks so much for the reply, it was very helpful & thorough!

Usually when the post arrives she just ignores it/doesn't notice it which is why it was so odd that she suddenly went from barely even noticing the post coming to going completely insane because of it! It could very well be because of something landing on her as she does like lolling about by the front door! I'm also wondering if maybe someone has been teasing her through the window as the postman arrives at the same time as all the school children go past our house and she has associated one with the other.

I'll definitely try and keep her out of the hall the next few mornings & see if it stops her from behaving this way. I'm in with her pretty much every morning when the post arrives and if I'm not in my mum usually is so hopefully between the two of us we can keep her calm

I think i'll take her to the vets this week or next week anyway, just to make sure that there's no 'underlying' problem.

Again, thanks for the reply

Thanks for the reply and the good ideas! I did wonder if her sleep pattern being disturbed had caused her problems so she had an early night last night and she does seem a little better today although she did still go a bit loopy at the postman this morning.

I hadn't considered getting a stand alone postbox or one that attaches to the side of the house but that's actually a very good idea! If this behaviour keeps up I'll definitely look into getting one fitted.

Bach flower drops? That's interesting, are they like the rescue remedy drops you can get for people? Glad to hear you've managed to sort Tilly's foot biting habit for the moment!

We do have quite a strict daily routine actually and It was altered quite a bit by having visitors. I didn't think it would affect her that much (She got her walk mid morning rather than first thing) but perhaps it did have more of an affect that I had bargained for!

It was very annoying having people wind her up, especially when they kept letting her bite their hands & were squealing at her despite me giving them strict instructions not to do either!


Nope, definitely not a food change She's been on JWB since I got her. I hadn't thought about a DAP diffuser, it's good to hear a positive review so perhaps they'll work well for Molly too! They sell them at our vets so perhaps I'll pick one up when I take her in and see if it makes a difference

I hadn't thought of getting people to help me desensitize her to the things that wind her up but that's actually a very good idea, thank you! Perhaps I can get some people to walk past/post some things tomorrow and try this out!

Good luck, let us know how you get on

Wys
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Will do, thank you for the luck!