Yoji, our Japanese Akita is 11 months old. He has all the traits we knew about before we got him and pride ourselves on how he is progressing. He’s not the most sociable dogs when we are out and about, but, we manage this and that doesn’t worry me. Ever since we have had him we have had lots of family and friends come to stay, all with no problems Today, we met some friends and invited them back for coffee. As usual Yoji was say at the door waiting for us as we entered. My husband and I entered first and Yoji went to meet the man and lady, when we were all in he started to bark at them and a growl at the man. Luckily they were not phased. We sat on the sofa and things settled down, but occasionally Yoji went over to them sniffing, his tail was wagging, but, then he would bark, he was close to them and I felt uncomfortable/worried and distracted him with a toy and asked our friends not to touch the dog or toy. Yoji seemed ok. Maybe an hour later he came back around them, his body language looked ok to me, again he barked I have been thinking about it most of the day. Our friends have a male dog that hasn’t been castrated, could Yoji smell him on them and take a dislike with the added fact he is 11 months old ( teenager issues ) It’s no excuse and I’m really upset with him and I hate to think that this is the start of something awful A worried Philippa
Hi Phillipa, I didn't want to leave you feeling passed over. Though I have connections, I have never owned a breed from the Working group, so this may be a problem best dealt with by @Chris B or @GsdSlave. I can only say what I would do in the same circumstances. My Tweed Lurcher was unreliable with pet loving guests who tended greet her with a fuss, but went into raptures over others who were experienced dog trainers. These people tended to be far less dog friendly, but obviously had much clearer body language. Tweed wanted to be accepted by visitors, but did not want to be loved by them. After we had had a few barky - and even borderline snappy - greetings, we began to put the dogs into the back room until any visitors had been greeted, and everyone was settled. The dogs were allowed to join us later, but with instructions to just say hello to them. Of course, the Beagle would want to fuss, but Tweed would often to go her bed and just observe what was going on. In my opinion every breed always retains an element of the purpose for which it was developed. In a scenthound, it will be nosework, in a Pastoral breed it will be herding, in a Toy breed it will be cuddling, and in Working breed, it often involves a suspicion of strangers.
I wanted to say that I would have removed the dog rather than rewarding growling and unfriendly behavior with a toy, but I held my tongue. We rarely get visitors but Nigredo is annoying. He sniffs a lot and wants to play and be friends. Not at all unfriendly but just annoying and clingy. He's always put away when people visit.
Thanks Carole for you response Today I have a clearer head With hindsight we would do thinks differently to give Yoji a good start The way we all enetered was probably quite overwhelming for him, he saw us and was excited to see us and then right behind us were two strangers Also, our setting configuration could have added to his “ guarding “ trait....2 sofa facing each other Yoji in between us Those 2 points are something we will bear in mind On our last “ wee “ walk we called passed our local bar, the owner called us over, asked Yoji to “ sit “ at he rewarded him with a dog biscuit. Yoji, then met the same friends in the bar along with about 30 other people, he did a full tour with me in tow, sniffing along the way and many new people patting him, he never “ muffed “ once We then walk our same friends home without any problem That proved to me he was in “ guard “ mode. I’ll work on how to help Yoji manage that
I had a similar problem with Heiko when I first got him, being kept outside he wasn’t used to visitors, I put him on lead in a sit/down position beside me if he broke it I put him back in it, I just ignored him and told my friends to ignore him also, and carried on normally and he eventually relaxed then I quietly praised him. When I thought he was comfortable with them being there id drop the lead ,asked visitors to offer him a titbit, no speaking or eye contact, if he started playing up again it was back beside me it took a while but now when visitors come they give him a tit-bit and he’s fine. Here are some other ideas you could try http://www.paw-rescue.org/PAW/PETTIPS/DogTip_copewithvisitors.php
Thank you for your input. The man of the couple returned today. Yoji had a few “ woofs “ but, things were a lot more relaxed
I wasn using the toy as a distraction rather than a treat. I take on board what you mean though. I’ll bear it in mind next time
