Hi,
I asked about my newly adopted dog's nervousness towards men on here last week on this thread:
http://www.chazhound.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24483&highlight=delia
Before she would only start to bark at men if they approached her, but now as she is growing more comfortable with her surroundings she seems to be barking more and more at men without provocation. Like if she just merely sees a man, she'll start to bark.
I have been using my father and brother as "guinea pigs" to try and work on this with her.
She has seemed to become less nervous around my father and brother, but there is still aggression. If we go over to my father's house, she has begun to follow him around barking, while before she would just bark when he would approach her. Now, She seems to be the one instigating it. She will even follow him up and down stairs to keep barking at him.
Once this is over and she has calmed down some, she will walk up to them real close, bark, and then run back and repeat. Almost like she is testing them.
The weirdest thing is that on occasion she will out of the blue try to instigate them to play and wrestle if they are on the couch or on the floor. It's identical to how she initiates play with me, but she is much more rough and vocal with them. More like how she approaches a dog for play.
So it's this weird form of play, where she seems to not only be trying to dominate them, but is still nervous and testing the water.
Some of the advice before was to not have them make eye contact and the like, but now she seems to be attempting to dominate them. This is where I'm a little confused as Delia seems to become more aggressive if my father or brother act assertive (i.e. stand their ground). So I want them to be assertive so she doesn't feel that she is dominant, but I don't want them to be assertive just yet because she is obviously still a little fearful.
I mean is my assessment of the situation correct? Is there anything else that sticks out that I could be doing to positively deal with the situation? Thanks.
I asked about my newly adopted dog's nervousness towards men on here last week on this thread:
http://www.chazhound.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24483&highlight=delia
Before she would only start to bark at men if they approached her, but now as she is growing more comfortable with her surroundings she seems to be barking more and more at men without provocation. Like if she just merely sees a man, she'll start to bark.
I have been using my father and brother as "guinea pigs" to try and work on this with her.
She has seemed to become less nervous around my father and brother, but there is still aggression. If we go over to my father's house, she has begun to follow him around barking, while before she would just bark when he would approach her. Now, She seems to be the one instigating it. She will even follow him up and down stairs to keep barking at him.
Once this is over and she has calmed down some, she will walk up to them real close, bark, and then run back and repeat. Almost like she is testing them.
The weirdest thing is that on occasion she will out of the blue try to instigate them to play and wrestle if they are on the couch or on the floor. It's identical to how she initiates play with me, but she is much more rough and vocal with them. More like how she approaches a dog for play.
So it's this weird form of play, where she seems to not only be trying to dominate them, but is still nervous and testing the water.
Some of the advice before was to not have them make eye contact and the like, but now she seems to be attempting to dominate them. This is where I'm a little confused as Delia seems to become more aggressive if my father or brother act assertive (i.e. stand their ground). So I want them to be assertive so she doesn't feel that she is dominant, but I don't want them to be assertive just yet because she is obviously still a little fearful.
I mean is my assessment of the situation correct? Is there anything else that sticks out that I could be doing to positively deal with the situation? Thanks.