Weird behavior

[Tama]

Hello. This is my first post so please be gentle. I have a nearly 4 year old amazing dog who is a sheltie-doodle x Jack Russel. (Dad was a brave jrt lol) we rescued him from a horrible family when he was less than 6 months old. He gets on really well with our cat, and our now teenage son. He is the sweetest most loving dog ever.
The weird behaviour started about 3 months ago. My husband works part time and takes care of me full time. When he comes home he has taught the dog that he's allowed to come say hi when my hubby says so ( giving him time to take off jacket and bag etc). So.. 50% of the time he's perfect. The other 50% he will cower and has even peed and cowered. Its like he doesn't know if my husband is going to beat him up or hug him. I must say hubby has NEVER been in anyway violent with dog, and I don't remember him ever raising his voice to dog. It's such strange behaviour. It doesn't seem to be a certain day, or what dogs/hubby's been doing that day. Same work clothes so no new smell etc. If anyone has any help for me I'd be so grateful.
Thankyou. Sorry for long post.

 

[JudyN]

We like long posts, the more info the better!

What is your dog's body language like with your husband when he isn't having one of these moments - totally relaxed, wriggly and happy, or maybe just a little unsure/deferential? And has this changed recently?

How is your husband with the dog in general - welcoming approaches, touch-feely, playful, or maybe stricter and liking attention on his terms? Does he ever correct the dog for unwanted behaviour, and if so, how?

Changing his body posture might help - dropping to his knees and calling the dog gently, rather than standing over him.

It's possible something 'scary' happened around your husband without him realising - dropping something noisily, standing on the dog's tail (though you'd expect the dog to give a clear reaction)... maybe he has built up some static on him and the dog has got zapped?

 

[Tama]

We like long posts, the more info the better!

What is your dog's body language like with your husband when he isn't having one of these moments - totally relaxed, wriggly and happy, or maybe just a little unsure/deferential? And has this changed recently?

How is your husband with the dog in general - welcoming approaches, touch-feely, playful, or maybe stricter and liking attention on his terms? Does he ever correct the dog for unwanted behaviour, and if so, how?

Changing his body posture might help - dropping to his knees and calling the dog gently, rather than standing over him.

It's possible something 'scary' happened around your husband without him realising - dropping something noisily, standing on the dog's tail (though you'd expect the dog to give a clear reaction)... maybe he has built up some static on him and the dog has got zapped?

...body language... hubby adores dog and vice versa. Dog will happily go to hubby at his comp/in his chair etc and nudge him or jump into his lap, sleep on him etc. Dog is always wriggly and happy around hubby. Follows him about.apart from this home coming weirdness all is perfect in their relationship. I sound like a councilor lol.
On the rare occasion dog has an accident in the home, hubby/son cleans it up and ignores dog. He learnt when toilet training dog not to yell or anything.
We live a pretty sedentary life. I am pretty much bed bound, and hubby likes gaming and TV. Hmm.. as for unwanted behaviour, what little there is hubby speaks in a low voice correcting him. The only behaviour he has is terrible recall, although we have been working on it and he's much much better.
The weird behaviour doesn't happen every day, and there seems no schedule to it.
Do u want a picture of dog? Would it help?

 

[Tama]

My dog

 

[Hemlock]

What a pretty little tyke!

I suspect there is some postural change that reminds your dog about his previous owners' attitudes just before they did something that frightened or hurt him. You may never know what it is. However, it might be possible to pause and analyse what it was your husband looked like to cause the fear reaction. Kudos to you both for reacting so positively and correctly.

Computer games sometimes sound really scary to a dog, plus the hyped-up attitude when playing might trigger unfortunate memories from your dog's past. Is it possible to play wearing earphones? It might be that computer games wound up his previous owners so he then experienced the smell of testosterone (nothing you can do about that of course) followed by aggression, and he is afraid it will happen again.

 

[Tama]

honestly it confuses me so much. hubby hasnt changed the way he is with dog since we got him, and its only in the last 3 months(ish) that dog has this behaviour. if it was every da, we could do seomthing about it. when he hears the gate click, hes up wagging and waiting. within a few moments he is either whining at the door waiting for hubby, or he is on my lap shaking, or he is hiding shaking. even when hes shaking, hes wagging and its like he wants to see hubby, but just cant bring himself to do so. in that situation hubby will generally squat down and call him over. then he will wither go over slinked down to the floor (somethines peeing) like hes expecting to be beaten (would never do this) or he suddenly snaps out of this cowering and bounds over and gets love and cuddles.
when hubby isnt here, if i mention him, dog is up looking out windows etc, looking for him. he loves my hubby more than me lol.

 

[Hemlock]

I'd suggest as an easy start that when he cowers, your husband ignores him completely and sits down, avoiding eye contact, and that will give your dog a chance to relax and approach in his own time.