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Originally Posted by Erin  You are right that your fiance should not have reached out to him. Tobi redirected his anxiety to him. Obviously now that you know he will bite/snap you need to keep him controlled (on leash) from now on.
Your dog is very scared. Something or someone in his pre-rescued life scared him and that is what he remembers. He was probably barking at the shadowy figure, not your fiance. I think the barking at your fiance is a separate issue and you need to work with your trainer on that (he is guarding a resource - YOU). Loki used to do it with my husband and I forget exactly what we did but it was a combo of me completely ignoring him and giving him a time out in another room when he did it and my husband rewarding him when he did not bark. Mine also bark at "scary" things like garbage cans, but I'm able to get their attention back and call them inside. Only after TONS of work was I able to do this with Loki. He is an anxious dog and he is 4 and we have worked with him consistently since he was a puppy.
Anyway, you are going to get 45 responses on this board from people who recommend Cesar Milan and think you need to show him who is boss (or alpha  ) and I'm warning you, do not alpha roll your dog, do not do ANYTHING to make him more fearful than he already is. Work with your trainer (hopefully a good one) to help him become more confident and manage his fears. You will not see change overnight. You'll have to work hard to change his behavior, but you can do it. Good luck! |
Good point about the alpha role! I didn't even think of that.
When my dad tries dominating over Duke it only makes it worse, and that's when he does attack at him for sure (and I don't know if this is bad on my part or not but I don't even "punish" Duke for attacking at that point because I think it is provoked, so I actually just try to calm him down) My husband had to try building trust with Duke before we could get anywhere with him.