Is this fear aggression?

[JessicaPipsqueak]

My friend came to visit last month bringing her 1 year old cockerpoo. It was a small gathering of 8 of us

The dog just ran round constantly, air snapping at everyone. I was told he was nervous with strangers so gave him lots of space and quiet and ignored him but if you even looked at him or walked too close to him, he snapped at you. He made brief contact with my clothes twice, my husband's skin (no breaking, literally a snap) he growled and cornered my teenager, barking at him and snapping in the air and same to my other friend.

He's apparently worse much worse if you go to their house!

My friend constantly gave him treats but he never settled and there's no way anyone could stroke him even if they had wanted to!

My friend thinks this is normal and he's just a bit nervous. I'm concerned it's a lot more than that!

Thoughts? He was inadvertently bought from a puppy farm that's since been shut down so I suspect his early weeks were with zero socialisation. I should add, he's fine with my friend and her family who live in the house with them. Growls at the teen sometimes but that's it

It does sound like fear aggression and the owners sound completely clueless.

They're new owners, yes.

I want to suggest they see a behaviourist to try and nip it in the bud but I don't want to overstep

He's a lovely looking dog and they love him and he's wonderful with other dogs.

Shame I couldn't go too near him for fear!

Clearly not normal, and your friends are irresponsible bringing their dog to an environment where he is stressed out and unhappy and they are putting people at risk.

They have zero interest in their dog's well-being, it seems.
Fear aggression that isn't properly tackled with training and behavioural advice only seems to go one way - he is a bite risk and might end up being PTS.

The mind boggles why you would bring a nervous and reactive dog who is anxious around strangers to an event, no matter how small, where he will be surrounded by strangers.

This definitely needs a qualified behaviourist to help them before something does happen i.e. he snaps, bites a child while on a walk for example (some kids have a habit of running up to dogs, especially cute looking ones), ends up being seized and put to sleep :(

The growl is a warning, when the growl is ignored it turns into air snaps, when the snaps don't work or make the thing the dog is worried about go away, they turn to the last resort which will be full on biting.

Unfortunately many, many young dogs are in this situation as a result of COVID.

They're fine with dogs because they've been out on walks and socialised that way, but as people haven't been allowed visitors (or to visit others), they're just not used to people being in their space, or being in different homes or environments.

A behaviourist is the right way to go, but it could be impossible to ever get this dog used to visitors, sadly.

The most worrying in your story are the completely clueless dogowners.There is an accident waiting to happen.poor poor dog doesnt seem to get any help from owners with its anxiety and is just dashing around helplessly snapping at anything,even air.the dreadful beginning of its life on a puppy farm is now continued by clueless owners.

Poor doggo sounds terrified. He was way over his threshold and trying to communicate that he was stressed as hell.

They need help from a behaviourist, honestly. So that they understand what he's going through. Training a reactive, nervous dog can be a long nightmare even if you know what you're doing - so they likely feel completely lost and I suspect in a lot of denial.

Likely one person he doesn't feel comfortable with would be too much for him in close quarters, let alone a small group of people.

@dustofneptune.could not agree more with you.

The dog needs some help from a professional. Shame on your friends for supporting puppy farming. Don't breed or buy while homeless animals die.