Reactivity to visitors

[Allfurcoatandnoknickers]

Just wondered if anyone has any similar issues and how they deal with this?
We adopted our Romanian rescue back in February. He's 2 and had lived in a foster home for six months with other dogs. We have another dog and he gets on with her well. He is very nervous, and took a while before he accepted us. He's now fine with all four of us, and is good in the house, loves his walks providing other dogs leave him alone, and has generally made great progress.
We haven't been able to have a 'normal' amount of visitors due to lockdown, but he has got to know my kid's girlfriend and boyfriend, my sister and husband, and is great with all of them.
We had a friend come to the door unexpectedly on Christmas Eve and I put him in another room. He was scratching at the door, and I stupidly let him come and say hello at the door. He was ok at first, then she moved, and he lunged and went for her trousers. He nipped her. I am horrified, and obviously will keep him out of the way now if anyone else comes to the house (ever!). I am unsure of the best way to deal with this. I've heard of so many different ways, from muzzling, keeping in another room (not too easy with the layout of the house), or behind a barrier (which might be an option).

Any suggestions gratefully received! Thanks

Hi OP, have you contacted the rescue? Do they provide behavioural support i.e., do they have a behaviourist who can advise you? If they don’t, then I would consult an APBC accredited behaviourist. Someone needs to see your dog in real life to be able to properly advise you, but it could have happened for a number of reasons, including fear or herding instinct (you don’t mention what type of dog he is).

In the meantime, I would take your dog for a vet check (a good behaviourist will insist on this before they see him anyway) and shut him away if you have any new visitors. I would also advise that you read about calming signals and the canine ladder of aggression (if you haven’t already). If your dog was nervous of your visitor, he was probably giving subtle signals before your friend moved, such as lip licking or yawning.

Thank you - yes we've been working with a trainer but I don't think she had any experience with Romanian rescues - they come with a lot of different issues! I think as you say he's probably got some herding breed in him - I think he looks a bit like a Kokoni/collie cross. The rescue don't have any behavioural support that I would follow - they are very small and although helpful when I spoke to them the advice they gave re behaviour wasn't really in line with Meesh Masters of Dogs Point of View that I've been following on Facebook, who I think is very good. I think I'm going to speak with our vets and see who they recommend. He's had a thorough vet check so I'm happy that he's not in pain etc., We had used a trainer before lockdown, but whilst she is good with basic training, she wasn't a behaviourist.
Yes I have read about calming signals and the ladder of aggression. I feel to blame as I misread the situation and put him in an uncomfortable situation. I will be keeping him well out of the way when anyone comes around in future.

My own developed a problem with visitors - it was triggered by a house move. I was genuinely very concerned that if anyone came around, he'd sink his teeth in.

We worked with a local APBC behaviourist (CCAB is equally good), who gave me the tools to sort it out - the best £125 I've ever spent! Nowadays he briefly growls at the point of greeting to check they're not wimps then fetches his ball and demands a game of fetch

apbc.org.uk/help/regions
www.asab.org/ccab-register

If he's nipped someone, I would recommend muzzle training him for his own safety as much as anything else - there are lots of internet guides on how to do it slowly and correctly. It's always good for a dog to be muzzle trained in case of emergencies or injuries anyway, so it won't do any harm to train him now :)

Otherwise, I would get definitely help from a behaviourist. You'll get a lot of well-meaning responses on here but nobody should be giving you advice about a dog that's bitten without having seen the situation for themselves.

Good luck!

Thanks - we have decided that we will keep him out of the way when any visitors come.
I have had some behaviourist input in our home before we went into lockdown and she gave me some things to try. I think now that he has nipped, the safest option is to keep him away - I am looking at creating a safe space for him and getting a secure gate to keep him at one end of the kitchen.

A friend of mine has a Romanian rescue, no idea what the breed it but it has the same issues. She is fine when you go in but if she is sleeping and a visitor moves they get nipped. They now muzzle her or hold on to her when they have visitors, I don’t actually visit anymore because of the dog. They were told she was a herding breed.