Over Protectiveness ..? Please help ...

Hi, wonder if anyone could help with what I think is `over protectiveness` with Eddie, our rescue dog. I know it is early days as we have only had him just over a month , but I want to nip this in the bud if I can.

Eddie seems to be overdoing the `guard-dog` bit! If anyone ie. friends, come to the house, especially men, he goes crazy, after the initial barking which you would expect, he won`t calm down in fact, he was showing agression when someone called mid-week. We had to put him in his crate, which I don`t want to get in the habit of doing... but, I felt in that case, I had to, as I didn`t know what he might do... by agression, I mean, barking, growling, lungeing & was highly agitated.

Do you think as a rescue dog, this is his way of saying, these people have rescued me & they are mine, if you see what i mean...

What can I do to help this situation ...? He is a terrier/lurcher type, but described by the fosterers as `Steady-Eddie` which he was for the first week , but since, has had different problems which so far, we seem to be coping with ... he is fine with us, great with the children... Lucy

He has probably just found his feet, i would ignore the behaviour you dont want and when he is calm praise him, try and get his attention away from the people that are coming in or try bringing him in once there in so there isnt the initial situation of people coming in towards him. It could be he now feels safe and secure and doesnt want anyone taking that away from him.

Thank you, BC lover, that is what I thought ... the feeling safe & secure bit, he is fine with people that visit regularly ie. my Dad who pops in most days, but strangers, esp men ... doesn`t like it.

This does not sound at all as though he is protecting/guarding you. It is far more likely to be nervous or fear-based aggression.

You don't know what baggage he is carrying from his previous life so you need to proceed carefully.

I would suggest that you try desensitizing him to strangers, particularly men if he shows aggression more strongly toward them. This should help you to work out a program: http://www.dogweb.co.uk/talkdogs/des...dogs_8050.html

SB

I totally agree with SB on this one - my Rottie, Murphy is a rescue and is weary of people in general and more so in the house, but with time and patience we are getting there. There are 2 things I insist people do when they come to my house:

1. Totally ignore Murphy
2. No eye contact whatsoever

Usually after about 5 mins, and after a lot of sniffing the person, walking away and coming back for another sniff, Murphy just goes and lies down, then I will give the person a high vlaue treat to give to Murphy, but still no eye contact.

It takes time, but you will get there

Wise words Stephanie

The importance of non-contact - touch, eye, voice, - cannot be over-emphasized in accustoming a dog with these problems to accept strangers.

I am so pleased to hear that you are making progress with Murphy

SB

Thanks SB

Now Murphy can be walked a little bit longer each day we have gone back to going down the park for a walk (on lead due to his leg) where ther are lots more people (and other dogs) so he is being socialised a lot more (and we have upped the training ) and the difference in the last 2 weeks has been amazing, but we are taking it slowly and one step at a time especially as we will have another small set back in a couple of weeks when he goes back in to have his plate removed, so it will a few steps back before we move on again but all this really does prove that time/patience/tlc really does work

Thank you SB & Stephanie for your advice. I will definately try these points out ... Eddie seems to be `testing` us at the moment, but as you say with rescues, they do seem to have issues that maybe don`t show up in their fosterer`s homes & go undetected until they are in a home environment. I know it will take time with him as he is a breed mixture anyway .. Lucy