Puppy snapping if another dog gets close when im stroking het

[MrsJamesStewart]

Hello,
Looking for some advice - we have a 5 month old puppy who is very calm and loving but is anxious of strangers. She is fine if people take it slowly with her - but will try and avoid anyone she doesnt know stroking her.
Recently I had picked her up having not seen her all day for a cuddle and my sisters puppy ran over to us whilst I was holding her and she snapped at her. She gets on fine with my sisters puppy ordinarily although my sisters puppy has a tenancy to bully her at times.
She has since snapped twice at two other dogs - once when she had had enough of playing and had got on the sofa with us at a friend's house. Their puppy has different energy levels and wouldn't leave her alone. And again today when a puppy we didnt know came up to her whilst I happened to be stroking her.
With all three dogs she is polite and playful and shows no aggression when we arent touching her.
She is obviously guarding us in some way and I don't know how to nip this in the bud. Obviously I am not holding or touching her when she meets other dogs but if one runs up like this one did today I want to know the best way to handle it.
I feel like I am failing her! I have taken her to puppy training, she is well socialised and is lovely with children and people she knows and ao very loving but i dont know how to help her anxiety. Please help! X

No advice but mine is the same (she's two now) and I simply respect that she doesn't want me stroking other dogs, or other dogs being too close to me. Mine has always been anxious around strangers and I used to stress about it ( did all the right socialisation , puppy classes etc) but then sat back and thought about it... I wouldn't want a stranger coming up and touching me..why should my dog have to accept it?

Dogs have their own personalities and quirks, and while, yes it would be nice to have a dog who loved all people and all dogs... not all do! Mine loves her family, is perfect in the home. but avoids strangers and I accept that.

I work with CARE principles (check out ReactiveDogsUk on fb) to pair worrying things with high value treats and it has helped a lot, but at the end of the day if your dog is nervous, you have to adapt to their needs... that's not failing them, it's accepting their personality and working with it!

Please stop picking her up! Most dogs strongly dislike it. If you want to fuss her, do it on her level or see if she wants to come and sit with you on a bed or sofa.

I would also avoid fussing her around other dogs unless she specifically seeks you out and asks for it.

Many dogs find too much fuss very overwhelming - I always encourage people to fuss for a few seconds then stop, and to only continue if the dog actively seeks out more attention from you.

I would say to stop stroking her when you're out. I dont stroke my dog when we're out on walks, we're just too busy walking.

The snapping at the puppy who wanted to keep playing is perfectly understandable. That must have been really annoying for her!

Thanks for all the replies. I probably wasnt very clear re the walk - we had stopped to get something out of our beach hut and were waiting outside when I was stroking her. So not stroking whilst actually walking.
But all good advice. We have made it a rule not to touch her when another dog comes near and I am not stroking other dogs in front of her at present.
She does ask to come on the sofa and she does ask to be fussed more if we stop. But if she moves for personal space we respect that.
Thanks again for the advice.

A big part of owning a dog is understanding how they tick and making adjustments for them. We can't go anywhere near our dog when he's sleeping, we learnt that after a couple of air snaps for sitting next to him on the sofa while he was sleeping so he now sleeps in his bed, undisturbed.

You know now not to stroke your pup when you're out. Hopefully that will resolve things.

To be honest, snapping is not that bad. It’s just communication.

If you did what to try and improve, then you need to form the association of
other dogs coming over = good for me

So if another dog comes over, ask them both to sit and give them treats.

Thank you both. Yes, she is such a gentle puppy normally that the snapping took me by surprise. But you are right - when i think about it like that, it is just communicating and we need to take that on board and realise what she is comfortable with.
Thank you again for all the replies. I feel much more relieved and feel i know a bit more how fo manage the situation.

I agree. Don’t pick her up.

She's snapping at dogs not people? I wouldn't worry about that at all! It's part of them telling each other off and completely normal. She's effectively just being firm with your sisters pup that she doesn't want to share your attention.

Our dog is the same with dogs getting to close to me if I’m crouching down and patting my dog when they approach. I assume it’s just possessiveness over me and a pretty normal behaviour.

Thank you! Feel so much better about it. I had dogs growing up and have been surrounded by family members dogs as an adult but this is our first puppy of our own. She is totally gorgeous and been such a calm, loving, easy girl that I think this behaviour worried me. She is very polite meeting dogs otherwise.

It's strange because they're dogs and this is perfectly normal dog behaviour but it worried me greatly when ours snapped at us. Of course he's still our lovely boy but the dog we had before him had never so much as growled at us so it came as a shock.