8 month old gold nervous bitch

[karenl]

I have an 8 month old gold show bitch who we think is quite nervous and is growling and occasionally snapping when we try to get her to do something that she doesnt want to do. The time this most happens is if we try to restrain her when she wants to greet someone at the door or try to wash her paws etc.
She is also showing nerves when we have family visitors stop over at the house and has started barking at people in our house. She seems OK when we are out and about and does not seem to be bothered with either people or othe dogs. She is well socialised and has had puppy training. 95% of the time she is fine. She does not seem to be too bothered about fuss and is usually reluctant to come over to us and likes to sit on her own.

Is the above normal behaviour for a cocker this age?

[JaspersMum]

Just a thought, has she always been like it  or is this quite recent?  I wondered whether she might be coming into season soon 

[Karma]

Coming into season is a good consideration.

Also at around this age dogs can go through a second fear stage, where things that were ok are suddenly scary again.
She is also approaching adolescence, and so getting ready to push the boundaries a bit!!!

It may help to use a houseline to control her when greeting visitors, so you don't have to physically restrain her...
And try gradually building up to washing paws.... wash one, and then give a treat.... if you have a spare person, use a tube of primula to distract her (and get her to associate paws being washed with good things!).

My dog, Honey, is very independent, and not one for huge amounts of fuss... it took us a long time to get her to accept being towel dried, groomed etc.... but we never actually restrained her to do it... I would be armed with treats, in a room where it didn't matter if she got paw prints everywhere, and would wait for her to choose to come to me.... the reward, a bit of drying, more rewards... I also used her "wait" command a lot - put a treat on the floor, asked her to wait, did some drying and then release - this meant her focus was on the treat, not on what I was doing!!! 

What do you do when she barks at guests?
Again, this is something Honey can do - she is generally fine with female visitors, but she really doesn't trust unfamiliar men... we're not sure why, but we just get them to sit still and ignore her, and she will come around in her own time...

[karenl]

thanks for your responses , it had crossed my mind that she may be coming into season.  as for trying to wipe her paws we stay very calm and don't force her and we do give her a treat at the end, unfortunately she is a very poor eater and is not bothered about treats which makes it even harder to get her on our side! she has always been abit grumbly right from when we had her at 9 weeks . what really bothers me is her snapping !

[karenl]

the idea of the leave it comand and giving her something to focus on might be worth a try. when she barks at people in our house we try to ignore it or if she really gets bad take her out into the lobby where a stair gate is. or sit with her with her lead on. she has always got exited when people come in but the barking at them is anew thing she does.

[Noodle]

My Tess went through a second fear stage at this age, barking at strangers coming into the house and being afraid of unusual objects, large boxes, people carrying large bags. I just ignored it and let her deal with things in her own time and when new people came to the house i let her approach in her own time and rewarded any positive behaviour.
She is 14 months now and is so much better, we had a house party last weekend with around 30 people and she stayed up till 4am
going from person to person for a squidge