Originally Posted by sila1982  Hi,
My name is Sara, and I have a three year old yorkie, named Mirren. When I got him as a puppy, he was really skittish/nervous. He never really liked going on walks, which was really different from dogs I had in the past, and if he did go on a walk, he really disliked long walks away from home. He was also real shy when running into people we would meet on walks. Till this day, if we put a new chair in the backyard or if a step ladder is in a room he's not use to, he'll shy away from these objects that are not normally there. He's always been a nervous/skittish dog.
However, he's a sweetheart with people he knows. He's very affectionate and loving. He has no aggressive issues when it comes to his food or even playing with toys. While he will play "tug" and growl during that game, it's never mean spiritied and he never bites or anything.
As he's gotten older, he has become aggressive with strangers in my house or my parent's house (he is not aggressive in public places, only places he feels territorial over). When someone he doesn't know comes to my house, he'll bark/growl/and nip at them. He'll only do this if 1-2 strangers come over. If I am having a party filled with people he doesn't know, he will not become aggressive because I think he feels overwhelmed.
I have tried a lot of things to stop this behavior. I have tried scolding and disciplining him, but if I get loud with him, it seems to get a little worse. I also have picked him up to answer the door and give the person coming in a hug, so he knows I am comfortable with the person before letting Mirren go. Also, if the person is comfortable with dogs, I'll just let him go and if the person lets him sniff them, it is usually fine.
However, with a stranger, he can calm down and be fine, and then, if they get up suddenly or make a sudden movement, he can go right back to barking/growling/nipping.
This behavior mainly concerns me with children. My best friend has a 5-year old that comes over often. When her son would first come over, Mirren would bark/growl/nip at him. However, her son has a pitbull and rotwireler (sp?), so it was never a huge concern; he was use to bigger dogs and never was really scared or anything. Since they come over often, now when he comes over, Mirren is loving with him and they'll play together. It normally takes at least a couple visits for Mirren to be comfortable with someone.
The other weekend, a friend of mine brought her 2-year old over, so I held Mirren the whole time because you never know - even when he's calm - if/when he's going to get aggressive with strangers...
Just for a little more background: I did take him to puppy school when he was little, and he was fine with the other dogs/owners. If anything, he gets nervous around them and leaves them alone. I'll still take him to Petsmart frequently to get groomed, and he basically just ignores the other dogs/owners. He never has any issues like this in public. Someone suggested additional training classes, but I don't think he'll show the main symptoms in the training classes, which is the aggressive/territorial behavior.
Also, I work from home, so I am with Mirren a lot (almost 24/7 unless I go out somewhere that day). As a result, he is very close to me, so sometimes, I think he acts like this when he's trying to be protective of me.
Does anyone have any suggestions on things I could try to do to change this behavior? I'd appreciate any help people can give me! Thanks! |