[CaramelTheRescue]

Hello everyone,
My rescue is now approaching six months, and we almost had a problem yesterday. My younger cousins tried to pet my dog, but she snapped at her. Caramel almost bit her, and I'm afraid she would've drawn blood. She is not hand-shy to me or my family members, but seem to be scared or nervous around little kids. She also seems to be a little nervous of older people, but tolerates them. I got her at about 5 months old, and tried to socialize, but the COVID-19 pandemic got in my way. Please let me know if you have any tips! I live in a pretty lonely neighborhood where there isn't a lot of diversity of people.

 

[3GSD4IPO]

Very simple actually. Do not let people just lean over (threatening) and pet her. Ever.

This is usually an issue of the dog not having an advocate or support system. When you socialized this dog, did you let strangers pet her? Don't do that.. anymore if you did or ever if you did not. Socializing is NOT your dog coming into physical contact with people or dogs. Socializing is showing your dog the world we live in and teaching the dog the safest thing in that world is YOU and paying attention to you. .

To make friends with this dog I suggest the unknown person or child crouch down away from the dog and let the dog approach. The person is not to reach for the dog. The greeting is to be entirely the dog's decision. With small children it may be difficult to control the situation. In that case I suggest the dog be in one room and the child in another room and the separation be a baby gate. If the child comes to the gate and the dog wants no part of the child, that is fine. Keep a gate or a crate between the child and the dog or simply crate the dog in another room away from the dog altogether. Kid wants to pet the dog? Tell the parents to get their own dog to pet. MUCH SAFER.

I also highly recommend when you have guests you put the dog up. I use a crate (or a dog kennel outside). There is absolutely NO NEED for your dog to interact with guests in your house. Ever.

In my case I have a breed that would be blamed if ever tooth touched skin. I would lose the dog and I would lose my homeowner's insurance and it would be unlikely that I could get insurance again. To that end, I put my dogs up away from visitors. Everyone is better off.

 

[LMH1012]

I'm just going to out this right here:
Letter From the Dog

 

[K9luv]

I feel you with the covid troubles, we got our pup in mid September and he only just met another dog two days ago at puppy class. Is there a pet store you can visit?

As for socializing with a diversity of ppl, Ozzy was terrified of strangers and wailed at his vet visit for his second round of shots when the vet touched him bc he had only met 3 ppl before that. So all of this is expected.

He has since met my parents, my OH's parents, his sister and my nieces. The vet suggested I have my nieces feed Ozzy his meal. In any case, my nieces each met him separately and then again together and each time they fed him treats while sitting on the floor. We let Ozzy approach my oldest niece totally on his own and after cowering and barking, he eventually settled and my niece was able to establish a relationship enough to be able to hold him (seated on the floor) by the end of it.

I'm nothing of a dog trainer, just someone else with a covid pup, so just saying what it's working for us. Of course each dog has its own pace for approval and watching the dog's behavior and moving at that pace is very important, but hopefully some reward would help her to soften up with ppl she finds scary atm.

 

[CaramelTheRescue]

Oh, and also, totally unrelated, what breed do you think she is? I got her from a lady who rescued a dog and her puppies. The puppies look nothing alike, for example one was black and fluffy, while the others were either light cream, dark brown, and black and rust. I know that since her siblings look so unalike, it's hard to tell, but any guesses are better than none. If you want me to post other pictures, feel free to ask me! I don't know if I'm supposed to put this in another thread, but I'll just post it here and if I can't I'll delete it. Thanks!