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Originally Posted by mscat  My 3 yr old yorkie dislikes men who are strangers. She barks loud and is very angry when a male stranger even comes close to where we live. She has not bitten anybody , but that is a real possibility , considering how protective she is. I agree that their is something wrong here. Your yorkie is very perceptive. Either your dog had a very bad experience that has left her traumatised with the BF, or she senses something about him that is very wrong. I understand that your BF and dog are very important to you, however, I would go with what my dog is trying to tell me before anyone else.
Your BF could crouch down to your dogs level and be very still. See if she goes towards him or not. I strongly doubt it. I think the damage is already done. And something did happen. Even if it were minor , the trust has been lost. Maybe BF walked too fast , or raised his voice , something really scared your dog.
If your dog has not ever behaved this way before with anyone then their is problem with BF. |
When I was a kid, my family had a cocker spaniel, Sandy, and she was also afraid of any man that came into our house other than my dad. Women were fine, she loved them, but men were another story. She would bark and growl and one time she chased my younger cousin and grabbed his diaper off his butt! We were so scared that she was gonna bite someone someday. This all happened i assume because sandy was not properly socialized as a puppy. Don't know why she didnt feel the same way about strange women, maybe because there were 4 women in the house that lived with her? Don't know. But how old is your yorkie? Have you socialized her a lot? If she is still young, you may be able to fix the situation. Like someone else said, try going slow with your bf and ur yorkie. Have him sit in a room with the door closed and you and your yorkie on the other side of the door. Maybe have him rub some of your clothes, her clothes, bedding, toys etc on his clothing to put his scent on them. Then have him leave and let her smell all of the things he rubbed his scent on. Do this for a few days and don't let them interact. Then, once she has gotten used to his scent again. Let your bf sit in the same room with her but keep her on a leash and across the room so that she can see him but not go near him. Talk with ur bf and keep a friendly tone to your voices. After a few days of this kind of behavior. You can move your girl closer to your bf still on the leash tho. Maybe have him give her a treat or some kibble if she is not growling or showing any signs of fear. If she shows any signs of fear/anger etc. at any stage of this, go backwards a step until the fear/growling stops. Then continue with the steps. Once you get to the step where ur bf can give her a treat or food of some sort, even if he has to put it on the floor next to his feet and she comes to eat it. Try to take her off the leash and tell bf not to pay any attention to her. See if she goes up to him and let her smell him. Again, if any signs of fear, grab her and put her back on the leash away from him. If she smells him and is fine just let this situation happen for a few more days w/o him looking at her or touching her or anything. Eventually she should go up to him on her own and be fine with him in the room enough to let him pet her. Hopefully that was easy to understand LOL and I hope it helps
