Crazy reaction to Postman and territory problems

[Carolanne]

Hi All
Haven't been on the site since Henry was a puppy but wondered if anyone had come across this behaviour.  When the postman comes, we have to shut him in another room as he barks and runs around the room. The barking is high pitched ( a bit like when he smells a squirrel in the woods!). If he gets to the post (mostly he doesn't) he would tear it up. This reaction has probably been heard of before but the worst thing is he has the same reaction if he spies a postman across the road when I am walking him. He tries to pull me across the road and he barks high pitched and manic like. Even on holiday recently, we were out walking him and he saw someone with a rucksack and started barking at him thinking he was also carrying post!
We have tried getting him to meet the postman and getting the postman to offer him a treat which works at the time but the following day, back to normal.

Secondly, he has become very territorial about being in the back of the car.  He growls at anyone who dares to come near him whilst in the back of the car and last week I went to move him over so my daughter's dog could be put in the car too and he went for me! Admittedly I was wearing a coat with the hood up but surely he must know who I am!! His lips turned up and he showed me all of his teeth and it was not pretty.  I backed off, then my husband took him out of the car whilst I put my daughter's dog in first. Then we put him back in and this time he was ok. I suppose I am answering my own question really as it seems he needs to be the dog that goes in last but I'm still upset that he was prepared to bite me. This is the first time he has done this in 3 years. The rest of the time he is a very loving and affectionate dog, healthy and happy and gets loads of walks and interactions. If only we could cure the postman thing and the territorial space thing in the car. Oh and we always have to make sure another dog is not around him when food is being put out. He would go for another dog and once warned my granddaughter when she was in the kitchen next to me when I was preparing his dinner. Not good!  Is this aggression??
Any clues anyone??

[bizzylizzy]

Hi, - I won't offer any advice about curing the problem, although I'm sure others on here with more experience will be able to help. I just wanted to mention what I read recently about one of the the ways dogs recognize people by their silouettes, if people have hats on, carry backpacks etc it can confuse them and make them fearful, - my Humphrey went absolutely barmy recently while we were out hiking with friends, it had started to rain and our friend put a rain cape and large brimmed hat on, Humphrey turned around and saw him behind him and bared his teeth and growled and I had to hold on to stop him launching at him, it was quite scarey and totally out of character, I've never seen him do it either before or since.
I realize that's not the whole cause of your problem but it might have contributed to his reaction to you and might help you when you're looking for a solution.
Best of luck!

[lescef]

I can't offer much advice, but a positive behaviourist would advise you on the best way forward.
You could desensitise him to the postmen he sees when walking. As soon as he notices the postman and before he reacts, get his attention by saying something or using a clicker which is faster, and give him a treat, then walk on giving a few more treats if necessary.  By doing this you are changing the emotional response to 'I get nice things when I see him'. Eventually he should automatically turn to you for the treat rather than bark.
The car food situation sounds like guarding. My two can't be fed together as they would guard the food so are fed at opposite ends of the kitchen!
Bramble would do as Henry does and growl at my grandson when I'm preparing any food. She gets put in her crate until the food serving is done. Don't let him practice the behaviour as it just reinforces it unfortunately. 

[hoover]

I think sometimes the situations our dogs find themselves in dictate their behaviours more than the people that surround them...well at least that's what I tell myself when Ollie acts like a little  .  Not so much now but in the past at times it has felt that our relationship counts for nothing - if he switched into guarding mode then all that mattered to him was his ability to defend his possession or his space against whatever threat he perceived - and in his mind, in that mode, we constituted the same threat as any one or any dog else.

I think that, like bizzylizzy is saying, that unusual shapes and silhouettes can provoke more of a reaction - Ollie is thrown more by hoodies and hats and fancy dress.  I think dogs can have a bit of an in-built predisposition to react to novelty - some dogs have inherited a more bomb-proof disposition and are pretty unfazed by most things, other dogs are naturally more reactive and respond with fear to novelty.

The back of the car was a space Ollie regularly used to guard but doesn't at all now.  It used to be if he hopped in with his lead still on we could not try to unhook him without bloodshed or have any hope of plugging his harness into the seat plug socket. I think this was partly because this was a space that felt inescapable to him and that can be a trigger for dogs, a bit like some dogs have leash reactivity but are fine quickly greeting other dogs off lead.  It also probably began to feel very much like his own space, as no-one else sat there. I don't know what changed, I don't think this was an area we really tried training out the behaviour, but I think it probably went away a few weeks after we had him neutered, at the same time a lot of his behaviours improved dramatically without any other real explanation.  Is Henry neutered?

The other thing to check, if this is a quite sudden change in behaviour, is that he doesn't have any health conditions or pain that are causing him to act in this way so a vet check might help.

[Finvarra]

As everyone has said above.  Had a postman situation with my terriers, and when we lived in a street we fixed up a basket to catch the post as it came through the letterbox (after my dad's income tax return got chewed up, clever dog  ). When our front door was away from the street we had an outside post box, which we have kept to this day, so our post is delivered without any dog being aware of it. Now we are in the country our post comes by van, but the dog doesn't associate the noise of the van with anything coming through the door, so it stops the problem arising. Of course it would depend on the situation of your house but maybe there is a way round it?

Lesley and Dylan

[Carolanne]

Thanks to all of you for your helpful replies. I will definitely try the clicker treat thing when in sight of the postman. This morning i put my daughter's dog in the back seat of my car first then Henry and once again all was well. I am still not sure why he went for me last week but he was first in the car and i was trying to move him over to put my daughters dog Maisie in which he obviously found annoying!!

So i think i just need to be one step ahead of him on certain situations to avoid the problem of guarding. Henry is neutered mainly because he was showing aggressive behaviour which has helped but not broken his spirit as he never starts on other dogs whilst out walking but boy he has defended his corner once or twice despite a dog being much larger than him.

Finally i have to add that 99 percent of the time he is the sweetest dog ever so i guess he just has his funny quirks like orher cockers I've read about.

Thanks all ☺