Sophie vs. The Mailman

[SophieKatesMom]

Hello YorkieTalkers,

I need some advice, my puppy Sophie Kate has developed a huge dislike for our mailman. I am not sure why, he is a perfectly nice gentleman and has even offered to help me get her over this dislike.

The first time Sophie snapped and growled at him was when he came to my door over Christmas. I was standing in the door way talking with him and Sophie darted outside, the mailman being nice bent over and grabbed her collar which set her into a barking growling fit. I thought at first it was no one had really ever restrained Sophie by holding her collar. Well yesterday I was outside getting my mail (mailbox is a community mail center down the street) when again the Mailman walks up to the mailboxes (doing his job, nothing more), Sophie again lunged at him and barked and snarled.

This is so unlike Sophie, she is just a very sweet dog and has been around other people and other dogs since she was 4 months old (she is now 7 months old). Normally I have to worry about Sophie licking people to death but not in this case.

Any suggestions, I do not want her to act this way towards our mailman.

Thank you.

[samsonsmomdana]

She remembers what he did to her and she did not like it. Believe me they remember! My husband took Samson out to potty and he just sat there and looked at him. So my husband picked him up and scolded him for not going to potty and put him in his kennel. Now, when Mike takes him out to potty, Samson just sits there and looks at him! He remembers "last time this man took me to potty I got fussed at!"

[JoeyP]

That incident for some had stuck in her craw

My brother's friend had jokingly went to kick a Lhasa I had one day
Yes, he was an ass
But that dog remembered that until the day he died
Everytime my brother's friend came anywhere Near our house
that Lhasa would bark and bark and bark
he was otherwise a very friendly dog
They do remember
To get her over it ... just have the mailman bring her treats everyday for a while
that'll get her over her being insulted

[SophieKatesMom]

Oh treats are a very good idea, thank you for the suggestion.

Again the fine people at YorkieTalk have helped me with a "situation".

[DukesMommy]

Duke freaks out on any mailman that comes to our door. He never had anything happen to him with a mailman but for some reason, even just seeing the mail trucks makes him freak out.
To get him to stop I make him sit by me before the mailman comes up to the house.

[QuickSilver]

Thor hates the cleaning guy at our offices. I've read that dogs develop this habit because at first they see someone strange approaching, so they alert-bark. Then this stranger goes away, and the dog thinks the barking scared them off. Score one for the dog! Every day, the dog sees another opportunity to protect its abode from this repeated menace. For bored dogs, this can become the highlight of the day.