What's going in my dog's mind?

[SoiPup]

Hoping someone might have some canine insights. We have a trainer coming over for a home visit but not for a couple of weeks.

So as I have mentioned before we have adopted a dog from a shelter in Thailand about 7 weeks ago. Generally everything is moving in the right direction with her. She's great with the family, friendly with strangers outside the house. Inside the house she shows (according to trainer) typical territorial fear aggression to strangers. This is quite hard with teenage kids and all their friends coming and going and a live-in maid, with the maid the biggest problem as she lives here and we also would like her to take the dog out if we are not home. Anyway, all of this seems fairly typical and we're trying out some of the suggested tactics to address it.

However, the bit I don't understand is this. According to all accounts, the dog is far worse when I am home! I am most bonded with the dog, when I'm home she follows me around all the time so obviously it's something to do with that but I'm at a loss as to why. If she were resource guarding/protecting me then she woud suretly behave like that outdoors as well - and her behaviour is definitely fearful - barking, running away but then in for a quick nip on the back of the leg/feet when she can and then scarpering again. For exampe, today I was out of the house all day. According to my husband and the maid, the dog was fine and tolerated the maid going around the house with no barking. As soon as I got home, she started hassling the maid again.
Any ideas what is going on in her mind and tips for how to fix it until the trainer comes? We separate her from guests but the maid is always here.

@ArcherDog

Sounds like she’s come a long way already, she’s just figuring things out one at a time.

Your trainer sounds sensible, especially the maid and you walking the dog outside together.

After a joint walk, and you get back to the house, how does the dog then react to her?

She's OK until she sees the maid again after a bit and then reverts back to her original behaviour.

@Crappyfridays7

Could you pop her on a lead when your maid or anyone she may be fearful with is about. Then keep her with you and when she’s settled and happy praise/treat (we say nice as our cue word ) so praising nothing. Ignore bad behaviour - she will be on lead so unable to get to maid kids friends etc. You could try boundary training? Or games making you the high value person so she listens to you and you build up a bond. It’s hard going and lots of work though. We have a 6 month old pup and it’s full on so can’t imagine having a dog who’s never been trained but if you’ve got a decent trainer to help ask them for advice too. Our boy was very mouthy with the kids. So we keep them separate, they give him toys and feed him when he’s being nice and calm & he’s either on lead with me or in his bed area. It’s exhausting but he’s learning he now thinks twice and checks with me when they approach him. She looks like a lovely girl and needs boundaries. V jealous of your life in Thailand - my mum has lived in Singapore, Vietnam, Australia etc she didn’t have a maid though that’s me in our house

Yes, I think we should try that one. Until now we have asked all our gursts to throw sausage for her (my kids are slightly mortified by us doing this to their friends) as trying to make hre associate guests (i.e. scary thing) with sausage (i.e. good!). We can try keeping her on lead and trying to cpature the good behaviour.

We're also working on basic obedience (sit, down, stay, bed) and I think that could help with redirection. Right now we have very little control over her in the moment - doesn't listen when she's past her threshold so we need to get in there before.

@Lastbonestanding

I cannot get past the live in maid. It's like you have written this thread with no self awareness and sent it to us from the 18th century. A live in maid! Is that even legal?

Interesting perspective and perhaps a little embarrassing for you to show how little you know about other people's lives.

So I guess you want au-pairs to be outlawed?

Following this thread with interest, because my DDog is the same - replace maid with boyfriend!

@Lastbonestanding

I cannot get past the live in maid. It's like you have written this thread with no self awareness and sent it to us from the 18th century. A live in maid! Is that even legal?

Of course it’s bloody legal, why wouldn’t it be?

Maybe I should tell our maid that some random pearl clutcher from Mumsnet is outraged she lives in and that from now on she must spend her hard-earned money and time to commute across Bangkok in rush hour traffic for an hour and a half plus each way.

Of course, since she asked to live in during the week to save on time and money, has her own room and en-suite bathroom, has her own key, is free to help herself to whatever she likes from the fridge and add food she wants to our grocery shop, comes and goes in the evenings as she pleases and returns to the room she shares with her sister across town at weekends, I suspect she may actually be quite happy with this arrangement.

Not forgetting (far more important if you really do actually care about the working conditions of a domestic worker rather than coming on to a thread about a dog to express outrage about her living in) that she is paid about 3 times the minimum wage here and about the same as a government teacher or bank clerk, gets overtime if she works over her agreed hours (even though she is live in) has paid annual leave, paid public holidays off, paid sick leave, health insurance and an entitlement to severance pay if we let her go.

Hardly Victorian

I really wish I'd never mentioned she's live-in, completely off topic and I feel the need to correct the ignorant misconceptions. The only point was that she's around a lot and we really need the dog to relax around her!

@Lastbonestanding my understanding is that maids and live in maids are pretty common in lots of areas in SEA. Is it really that hard to understand that in different countries different things happen? Not all of them bad! Surely a live in maid as the OP describes is a better job that someone who cleans multiple houses in the UK - at a couple of hours per house per week. @SoiPup's maid is a salaried position and secure.

If only you'd called the maid, a nanny or au pair instead eh

Probably best to contact a qualified canine behaviourist, many do offer remote sessions so not really limited to what's available locally and you've some teens that can help film the dog's interactions with maid while you're around and when your not.

@PurpleM

If only you'd called the maid, a nanny or au pair instead eh

Probably best to contact a qualified canine behaviourist, many do offer remote sessions so not really limited to what's available locally and you've some teens that can help film the dog's interactions with maid while you're around and when your not.

Yes, lesson learned there!

I think we're lucky that we have a certified trainer (apparently dog trainer is a protected title in Germany where she studied!) who we work with and since there are few covid restrictions in Thailand, she can come to our house. She knows our dog as she's come before and we go to obedience classes there as well - and she's resuced soi dogs herself so knows the type of dogs here.

Just need to handle the next 10 days until she comes to help us!

Maybe your ddog is attacking the maid because she also objects to the idea on principle She does look a bit judgy in that photo.

@JesusInTheCabbageVan
We'll try calling her an au-pair and see if it helps the situation :)

This thread is hilarious with all the hate because OP has a maid.
I think ex street dogs are different to other rescues. I know someone who runs a group for Romanian rescue dogs and she thinks they need some different strategies and are not for everyone.

There’s a Facebook group called Dog Training Advice and Support. They have loads of invaluable articles to read and once you’ve read them if you still have questions you can post for free professional advice. They’re great and have given me huge insight into our rescue dog.

@DudeistPriest
We no longer have a maid. She's now an au-pair.

Our dog is street dog 'stock' but has been in the rescue since she was a little pup so that's really all she had known.

@Goingtogetflamed
I'm on that group and it's very useful although I tend to prefer anonymity when posting publicly!

If you’re on it and have read the many articles written by professionals regarding dog behaviour and psychology then that should give you much more insight than posting on here. Set up a new Facebook profile in a fake name if you really don’t want to post on there - although it’s a closed group so no-one outside of it would see anyway.

[quote SoiPup]@Goingtogetflamed
I'm on that group and it's very useful although I tend to prefer anonymity when posting publicly![/quote]
Don’t mention the maid and you will be fine