Hi Everyone

[Holytrinity]

New member here.
New dog owner too! Rescued a 14 month collie cross about 6 weeks ago.
He's a lovely boy, learning to play and enjoying his comforts!!
Can be a bit 'nippy' at times, is that a breed thing?
Also had a bit of an issue yesterday that I could do with some help.
Sat out having a drink, a man approached from behind my wife holding his hand out, dog not happy, showing teeth and the man backed off, no problem.
Later his mate came over again unannounced moving to fuss the dog. He was having none of it and actually went for him and bit his arm and leg. The bloke was not happy and started shouting the odds.
We felt he had startled the dog hence the problem. His mates came out later and actually agreed with us, but we are a bit worried about how our dog reacted. Does anyone have any suggestions??

 

[JoanneF]

Just to be really firm with strangers - it really isn't unreasonable to ask people to respect his space. It's too early to know what his real personality will be like but I really don't blame him - if a stranger came up to me, and wanted to stroke my hair, that's clearly unacceptable so it shouldn't be very different for dogs. They aren't public property.

That said, it would be a good idea to familiarise yourself with canine body language. Dogs give a series of signals that they are unhappy, but unfortunately most people don't recognise them because they can be quite subtle. To begin with there is often wide eyes, lip licking and yawning. There is also muscular tension in the body. Then the ones we sometimes do see - growl, snarl, nip then bite. If the early signals are not seen (or, in the dog's view, ignored) he won't bother with them because us stupid humans pay no attention anyway; so he may go straight to the bite. So it's important never to ignore the early signals or reprimand the dog for giving them; stopping the dog from giving them would be like taking the battery out of a smoke alarm.

 

[JudyN]

If a stranger came over and made a fuss of me without asking, I'd snap too! Do you know anything about the dog's past, whether she had a lot of socialisation?

I think you should use management to deal with this. You need to stop people approaching her closely enough to worry her. This might not be a problem right now... just cough when they get near For the longer term, though, there's a 'Yellow Dog Scheme' for 'dogs in need of space'. You can buy yellow vests, leads, all sorts to warn people not to get to close: https://www.yellowdoguk.co.uk/index.php/online-store

Over time, if you can get people to keep their distance, she'll relax, and then you might be able to ask them to come a little closer while you give her treats, till she thinks of people close up being a good thing. Don't let them give her treats - you don't want her to go up to strangers because the lure of the food overcomes her fears as then once she's had the treat, she'll find herself far too close to a scary person. She may come to like meeting new people who say hello politely to her, maybe even happy to sniff their hands... Or she may not. And that's fine too - she just needs to learn that they're not an actual threat.

 

[Holytrinity]

Thanks for your answers, definitely reassured us.
He was bought over from Ireland as a stray. I don't think he's ever been worked but think he has lived with people before. He has always responded to 'sit' and walks pretty well on the lead. He loves his fuss and is starting to respond more to commands, slowly but surely.

 

[JudyN]

Now why did I think he was a she? Sorry about that!