What would you do *dog advice

[Newmama93]

I have two large dogs, one is 5 and one is 3, we got the second dog to assist my first dogs mild separation anxiety and she is totally fine in his company compared to before when she was alone and would try to escape.

he is the perfect dog, amazing with our son, lays around all day after his walks and is extremely gentle and obedient with us and our family. The issue I am having with him is he does not like strange people or children coming into our home, I have to bring them in a way that he will accept so he doesn’t bark and growl at them, I don’t have any kids over to play or any friends over as he is standoffish and strange with guests so I just get anxiety the whole time and it’s not worth it. He’s growled at family members a few times and my little nephew when he came into our home unannounced, I have worked with trainers and he is a lot better but I still can’t trust him around kids other than my own.

My two dogs are so bonded I don’t think I could ever give him up, but how will I go the rest of my life with kids and all the caution on guests? Advice welcome!

Why can’t he go in another room?

Your dog is being protective. My parent's dog is exactly the same, they just tell people not to touch/fuss him or put him in another room. I think saying how can you go on like this for the rest of your life is being a bit dramatic tbh.

I assume that having a dog that is not trustworthy shut in another room doesn't actually help especially if the house is small. Kids will just open the door and walk in, and then dog flies at them for walking into his space.

If he is guarding the space, then he will go nuts barking when he hears someone in the house that he can't reach.

Op is he a guardian breed?

He could go in another room it’s more for how long people are over/not ideal to often have him in the room for 6 hours or more and also if kids eventually stay over as my kids get older.

sorry if that seems “dramatic” to you but it’s how I feel about the situation and the stress it puts me under having an unsure dog.

Yes we are in a very small space at the moment while we build, we will be here 18 months.

he is not no he is a bulldog

Can you get a behaviourist? We have a similar breed with lots of anxiety and the behaviourist has really helped us. Good luck. I know how hard this can be.

Mine is a bit like that, he thinks anyone that he doesn’t recognise in his home is there to kill us all. Any new people who are likely to be repeat visitors are invited to come for a short walk with us before the first planned visit, by the end of the walk he thinks they’re his new best mate and they are welcome in his home anytime 😂 he is moved to a different room when we have any visitors that it would not be practical to go for a walk with, e.g. tradespeople, and they don’t meet.

Unfortunately not the same for ours, he can be ok with them for hours then they’ll get down on his level or something and he’ll start growling out of nowhere, so I have to manage everyone’s movements.

I have a dog that can’t be round visitors btw, he’s either on lead or in another room from them, so I wasn’t being flippant.

More that after a certain amount of training you have to kind of just accept that it’s not likely that he’ll ever be completely ok with them and act accordingly.