Honey doesn't like men!

[Karma]

Just as we thought we were getting everything sorted with Honey, she's thrown up a whole new issue.

She doesn't like strange male visitors to the house. 
It's happened 3 times now.... men she's met before she's perfectly happy with and greets enthusiastically, women she's perfectly happy with and greets enthusiastically even if she hasn't met them before.

Strange men, on the other hand, get the full blown woofing treatment... 
She's never had a bad experience with a male visitor to the house, and it takes her several visits to get over this inital reaction....

The trouble is, cos it's strangers, it's hard to get people to come an visit to help improve this...

My brother just called round, and I was able to get her to sit and be quiet, but the second my attention moved from her, she was back to woofing... she accepted a treat from my brother, but still with a low growl/woof going...

I don't think it would help to not let her see them come in, as it is their presence in the house that she objects to (one person, whenever he moved to, say, go to the loo, got a new round of woofing)...

Any ideas on this one??

[Rats and Dogs]

Gari is like that with big or tall men, I think he finds them intimidating, but I've found that if they sit down he seems to accept them better.

Sorry if that's not any help.

[Hurtwood Dogs]

This may not be a recommended way of doing things but if it was me, I would have her out of the way until they've been in the house a while then totally ignore her and carry on as usual. If she's not had a bad experience, I'd suggest she feels a little uncomfortable sometimes and has discovered kicking off gets attention focused on her and is getting into a habit.

I had an issue with Normy doing similar - it started with men but then became anyone. To be honest, I don't have the time to spend ages rewarding her for being quiet etc (plus not everyone is into dogs and would find it a bit rude having to wait for me to go through a kerfuffle with the dogs before I talked to them  ). I think with Normy, it was partly her feeling a bit uncomfortable with the situation then also an attention thing when she realised kicking off got me to focus on her. So whenever someone comes to the house the dogs are told to go to their beds, I close the door to that room and the person/people come in can come into the house without the dogs getting over exited or flattening them. When the initial excitement has subsided and they've got used to other people being in the house, I sometimes let them mingle and sometimes not... i.e take the big deal and expectation out of it all.

I know this is not for everyone, but I have young kids arriving or being collected sometimes and also people that aren't keen on dogs and I don't think it's fair to subject them to situations that they aren't comfortable with. As a result both my too are a lot calmer when people visit now and they listen to me if they are told to go to their beds too.

Sometimes I think that 'greeting' can cause a lot of problems from owners and strangers. I don't say hello to my dogs when I come in the door I put bags down sort the kids out, maybe let them out then when they come back in we have a calm cuddle etc... and I never get flattened. OH used to make a bug fuss of them and they'd both start barking and bouncing all over the place, he doesn't anymore and now he can also walk into the house without it becoming chaos

It's down to choice and how you like to live with your dogs but for us the benefits of not having a big 'greet' with us or visitors seriously outweigh having to delay cuddles just a little bit 

Hannah xx

[spanielcrazy]

I agree with Hannah, although I have the opposite here; mine are so enthusiastic when someone comes it can be a bit overwhelming. They are put in the kitchen behind a baby gate so they can see the new person but have some time to let the adrenaline levels come down a bit 

How old is Honey? Perhaps she is going through her second fear period?: http://www.dogclub.co.uk/advice/puppygrowth.php

[Karma]

She's nearly 2.

The thing is it's not the greeting them at the door - she's quite happy if someone stands at the door... it's their presence in the house...

She's pretty good at greeting people generally, not too enthusiastic, but happy to see them... just once a strange man steps into the house she starts.  And will continue any time they move within the house for the duration of the visit. 

[Hurtwood Dogs]

Does she do it all the time - i.e. do you think she's guarding bits of the house or is it when they focus on her? Normy is not bothered about people being in the house and moving around but she will kick off if people she doesn't really know talk too directly to her, particularly if they ruffle her, make a fuss of her or do ' high pitched doggy voice' she really hates that, even from behaviourists  

Have you tried keeping her in another room whilst they are there? Does that stress her out?

Hannah xx

[Toni-UK]

Seeing as Honey knows your brother but still woofed and growled low at him do you think she could be guarding you 

Just a thought.......

[Karma]

She doesn't know my brother.... it's the first time he's been to my house!!   

It isn't guarding, it's alarm barking (it's a different sort of bark - we've had guarding from her before)... she is genuinely disturbed by their presence.
 

It's a while since she's seen my Dad, and she was a little unsure at first, but there was no barking, and she quickly came around.

My brother wasn't the best person to help work this through with, either, as his body language to dogs is appauling... 

I think being seperated for any length of time while she knew someone was visiting the house would seriously stress her - she's bad enough when the doorbell on the tv has the same chime as us!!! 

I guess it's just going to one of those things we have to live with... will try higher distractions next time around (but that don't involve out attention)... maybe scatter cheese on the floor....

[Top Barks]

Make sure you do the feeding, not the visitors otherwise honey may feel in a state of conflict i.e she wants the food but is scared to go and get it.
I would also get your visitors to ignore her.
No easy solution to this and you will have to try things as Honey is able to cope. removal to another room may be the best option if she is stressed.
I sometimes have this problem where I go to a clients house and the dog woofs like mad at me so I sometimes meet the dog outside or take another dog in with me which often helps.
Classic example the other day, went to see a puppy farmed bichon to do some Puppy training and got there and it was terrified, the owners thought its reaction was cute and were shocked to learn what they had taken on.
I went and got my old boy oliver out of the van and believe me if he was anymore laid back he would be asleep and his presence seemed to calm the little bichon enough so we could do a little work with him.

[amzzyb86]

my cockers r 4 and 6 they dont like men hide behind me until they know its safe lol x

[Karma]

Thanks for the advice, Mark.... now I just need a stream of strange men to call round to put it into practice!!!