Hi all,
Almost 3 weeks ago my hubby and I picked up our little girl, Clove. She’s almost 5 months now. When I first went to meet her, she was timid but did not bark or anything at me and even let me pet her. Her previous owners said she did great with them and their family but had not been socialized much with others outside there family. I grew up with Dobermans so I do know they take more effort and training, as well as specific training to their breed, so I am more than willing to take on this challenge. I took her home and introduced her to my hubby. She was very anxious but wasn’t vocal and didn’t growl, however the following day when he came home from work, she growled and barked at him and wouldn’t let him come near me. I thought that was odd that she was already so possessive of me in 24 hours. Anyways, I knew she was going through a lot of change and was probably scared. It scared my hubby cause although she is 5 months she is already very large for her age and has a very deep bark, not a small puppy bark. Anyways, my hubby kept trying over the next few days and she has warmed up pretty quickly. She now loves him and gets so excited to see him, but there’s still some things he does that she doesn’t like and she will growl at him. We’re trying to teach her what is acceptable behavior and what is not, but we do not yell at her as we know they don’t respond well to this. Over the last couple weeks we have been getting her around our friends dog, who she loves, as well as our large group of friends. She does well outside the home with meeting people, but inside our house she acts kind of aggressive with people, although it does seem fear based. The thing that concerns me the most is that she will seem to warm up, but then randomly snap. Like the other day she had her head in my friends lap, who she just met that day, but then randomly started barking in her face and growling, and my friend didn’t do anything. I think it alarmed my friend and I felt so bad. I know she is probably scared, but should this be a warning sign? Do I just keep doing what I’m doing and socialize her, teach her what is acceptable and what is not? We have a lot of friends with kids and dogs and I want her to be a friendly dog and not have to worry about her snapping randomly. Any Insight would be much appreciated!
Almost 3 weeks ago my hubby and I picked up our little girl, Clove. She’s almost 5 months now. When I first went to meet her, she was timid but did not bark or anything at me and even let me pet her. Her previous owners said she did great with them and their family but had not been socialized much with others outside there family. I grew up with Dobermans so I do know they take more effort and training, as well as specific training to their breed, so I am more than willing to take on this challenge. I took her home and introduced her to my hubby. She was very anxious but wasn’t vocal and didn’t growl, however the following day when he came home from work, she growled and barked at him and wouldn’t let him come near me. I thought that was odd that she was already so possessive of me in 24 hours. Anyways, I knew she was going through a lot of change and was probably scared. It scared my hubby cause although she is 5 months she is already very large for her age and has a very deep bark, not a small puppy bark. Anyways, my hubby kept trying over the next few days and she has warmed up pretty quickly. She now loves him and gets so excited to see him, but there’s still some things he does that she doesn’t like and she will growl at him. We’re trying to teach her what is acceptable behavior and what is not, but we do not yell at her as we know they don’t respond well to this. Over the last couple weeks we have been getting her around our friends dog, who she loves, as well as our large group of friends. She does well outside the home with meeting people, but inside our house she acts kind of aggressive with people, although it does seem fear based. The thing that concerns me the most is that she will seem to warm up, but then randomly snap. Like the other day she had her head in my friends lap, who she just met that day, but then randomly started barking in her face and growling, and my friend didn’t do anything. I think it alarmed my friend and I felt so bad. I know she is probably scared, but should this be a warning sign? Do I just keep doing what I’m doing and socialize her, teach her what is acceptable and what is not? We have a lot of friends with kids and dogs and I want her to be a friendly dog and not have to worry about her snapping randomly. Any Insight would be much appreciated!
