Lockdown puppy

[newbrother]

We adopted a rescue pup in December, a four-month-old from abroad. She arrived just as the particularly heavy winter lockdown was set into motion, and until very recently we lived in Glasgow so as you can imagine, we didn't have many opportunities for socialisation.

I feel that even though options were limited, we did a good job. We met with friends in the park and in the garden when allowed, especially friends who have dogs themselves. We also invested in a dog walker three days a week so that she got used to being away from us, and around different dogs. All good. She is a happy, sociable little thing when she meets people in their homes or on neutral territory and loves other dogs.

However! And I probably won't be the only dog owner of a lockdown pup saying this.... her behaviour towards humans when they are in our house is AWFUL. We have only just been able to do this due to lockdowns, and then we moved away from family in March so we have only been able to have our first visitor in May. Suddenly the people she loved in the park and the garden are enemies because they're in the house. And now that she's a bit older, and we live too far away to have people we know in the house regularly, it feels impossible to address.

Anyone else in a similar situation? How did you handle it?

You need a safe space for her. Either a crate if she's used to one, or a gated area (we gate our kitchen off). When our sprocker pup was little, she was very barky so we kept her in the kitchen until she calmed down and then let her out. Any barking, straight back to their space and repeat repeat repeat.

At this age, your puppy is an adolescent and would likely be challenging their boundaries anyway, lockdown or not. Mine is now 2.5 and I nearly cried walking her last night because she went nearly the whole way off lead (quiet rural lanes) and was just so so good. It's taken a lot of grey hair to get here, mind.

@randomkey123 Thanks! She loves her crate so that's a good shout, thank you. We'll try this the next time we have guests (if our family ever want to come back to the house with the little shouty dog!).

Mine developed an equally low opinion of visitors after a house move upset him, and I was very worried he'd sink his teeth in.

In the end I got a behaviourist in (NB it's important to get someone APBC or CCAB qualified; there's plenty of charlatans out there).

We worked out that if we met someone outside and all walked into the house together, ddog was perfectly happy with them.

The visitor then played lots of games of fetch with ddog - which is absolutely the most bestest thing in the world, as far as he's concerned

We then repeated with a variety of visitors - like you I'd recently moved a long way and knew few locals. So, everyone from a builder who came around to quote to a journalist was roped into it.

Ddog now firmly believes that visitors are there to play fetch with him, and so now they're an excellent thing. No need to meet them away from the house any more either. He'll now eagerly present his ball and ask for a game (usually with front paws on their thighs just to make ball delivery easier! Probably technically jumping up but tbh I don't care because it's 1000% better than what it was before)

@DeathByWalkies thank you - lots of this is very helpful! We'll try the thig where she comes outside to meet them first although we now live on farmland and as far as she is concerned it is ALL her land so I'm not sure how that will go down

The fetch idea is perfect. Our little girl will play fetch for HOURS if given the opportunity. Thank you!

It’s less likely to be from lockdown and because she’s come from abroad tbh... mine is similar and I know it’s a very common issue.

Partly from missing the socialisation window before they’re old enough to travel, partly because their early experiences aren’t great and partly because a lot of them either come from generations of street dog or have a fair amount of livestock guardian in there.

Meeting people on walks and bringing them back definitely helps, but really you want a behaviourist or trainer experienced with foreign rescues because you’ll need to do a fair bit of counter conditioning.

Our dog isn’t from abroad but is exactly the same. Friendly as anything when off her turf but as soon as anyone new (especially men) comes in she is barking. Fortunately all of our visitors since lockdown have been incredibly amenable to her so like Deathbywalkies we have roped them to help with socialisation and she is definitely getting better. Now it’s just an initial bark and then asking for a fuss. I think she is just nervous and not sure what she is supposed to do with visitors. She loves our cleaner who has been in the house for a while and can recognise her footsteps so never barks. Clever creatures.

I would try meeting guests at the end of the road with her, and bringing everyone back into the house together.

I would get in professional help.

DO NOT encourage interaction between the visitors and your dog. If you can get your dog to be calm when they are in your house this is the first step.

So to start with it may be that your dog is in a room on their own away from the visitors. If they can be chewing on a natural chew or kong that would be fab and also show your dog is totally relaxed. The dog will be well aware the visitors are in the house. If your dog is calm in this situation then you can have the door open with a door gate in place.

Do not encourage the visitors to give treats for many reasons.

So initially you are working on your dog just being calm and ignoring the visitors.

If and a big if visitors do offer treats they must throw them past the dog. So the dog has to move away from the visitors to get the treats. Then if the dog is happy the dog can move towards the visitors to ask for more treats but it sounds like you are a long way off this stage yet.