inconsistent behavior, growling

[mtndan]

oscar, a rescue dog who we have had for two weeks and have written about before (he used to live at a house chained up 12 hours a day, was hit with sticks by a neighbor in his old town), is being funny and hard to understand. he is a big sweetie with us at home, cuddly and loving.

but he seems real insecure, constantly needing love (i don't blame him since his whole world has changed). and we have had a few incidents where he snapped at and nipped at two different women who came over, as i probably mentioned. now he is acting defensive around a male neighbor of ours. one minute he was cuddling mike and acting normal, the next he was growling at him. this happened a few times till we got him away from mike as we and mike are scared oscar might bite him?

maybe mike reminded him of the guy who used to hit him? mike said he felt real scared to be around oscar b/c oscar has growled at him before. perhaps oscar picked up on the fear?

also, we took him to his first training class where he was real freaky around other dogs. he was lunging from his leash at all the dogs, barking a ton. we couldn't tell if was fear or aggression or a combo.

our main concern is we don't want him to hurt anyone or any dog.
thanks a ton!

 

[Brutus and Amaya's Mom]

I am glad to hear you are now in classes. I am sure they will be helpful.

It sounds to me like you have a little guy who needs to learn to trust and be socialized. He is really experiencing a whole new world which can be very scary.

I am glad to hear he growls. Growls are warning signs that he feels threatened or scared. They allow you to take action. The dogs that are beyond help are those that don't growl.

I think you need to slowly introduce him to people and monitor him closely. I would probably have him on leash and have new people give treats if possible so he learns people are good.

In class...I am sure your trainer can tell you if he is excited, scared or aggressive. Dogs say a lot through body language and any good trainer should be able to determine if he is a threat or very happy and how to work with him.

You may also want to look at buying some books about dog behavior. The two I have read that most people on here seem to like are "Culture Clash" by Donaldson and "How to Speak Dog" by Stanley Coren.

 

[mtndan]

thanks

Thanks so much for your feedback. He is insecure, but seems to be getting better all the time. He's not a pup (almost 4) and we realize we have some work cut out for us.

But, at our second training class which was Tuesday, Oscar was SO much better than the first. He still got worked up around the other dogs, but was able to focus much better. Also, the trainer noted that the other dogs didn't seem nervous around him, even when Oscar was barking and jumping, so that's a good sign.

We have a gentle leader collar that we're trying to use with him, which helps a lot on walks and in the class.

I ordered those two books, on several recommendations besides yours, and I'm looking forward to reading them.

Thanks again!
Dan & Paige

 

[jenniemitchell]

How's your baby doing? Different breed, but I had same situation with an abused Shephard I adopted. At least in my case, she needed training, and TIME. Time to know that her new, loving home wasn't a doggy vacation, but her real life, and that most people are good. She lived a long, happy, healthy, well-adjusted life. But the first year was tough! Hang in there!