# Shy dog growls at visitors



## Evie (Dec 22, 2011)

We adopted 20-month-old Evie a month ago. She was very shy when we met her. Now she's great with us and with other people she knows -- sweet and eager to please. But very, very shy with strangers. We've been socializing her every day and she has made good progress outside our home. Good with other dogs, too. But when visitors come she barks and growls at them. It's clear she's flat-out afraid of them. 

She has not bitten, snapped, nipped, or snarled. She prefers flight to fight! 

We've been giving treats when visitors are arriving, and this works just fine as far as it goes. But -- what do you do when you've missed your opportunity and the dog is already doing the unwanted behavior?

Punishment is not the answer, but letting the dog growl/bark without any correction at all doesn't seem right, either. Is a stern 'no growl' too much?

This isn't the friendly "growlies" we all know and love, by the way. Also, we're in a very rural area so a behaviorist isn't an option. 

Thoughts on this?


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## Oaklys Dad (Dec 28, 2005)

I would continue with just the treats and having the visitors ignore her but keep tossing her tiny treats or kibble. She will soon figure out that visitors are a good thing.


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## FlyingQuizini (Oct 24, 2006)

I'd have visitors completely ignore her. Completely. And you ignore the growling. Remember that she's communicating where she's at emotionally. If you correct that, she may lose the growl and then, if fearful enough, go straight to the bite.

Guests come in, sit down ... don't look at her, talk to her etc. If she comes over to investigate on her own, they can toss down a treat for her. But it needs to be on her terms and not something the visitor rushes.

The other thing to try is to take her outside on a leash and let her meet the new person in your front yard or front sidewalk. This especially works if she's better with new people outside the home. Then she walks into "her space" with the stranger she's already befriended.


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## Summer's Mom (Oct 20, 2010)

Summer used to growl at visitors, or anybody for that matter. We use classical conditioning to change her emotional response towards strangers. Basically, pairing stimulus (stranger) --> food (the best thing you can think of.. steak? chicken?)

It is important that you don't start feeding her treats pre-emptively. If the sequence becomes food --> scary thing, then she will start to refuse food or associate it with negative experiences. 

As for the problem of missing the opportunity and her already growling, still start feeding her immediately and lead her away from the visitors on leash while feeding continuously. Either keep her completely separate (in another room), or if you are "working" on it, keep her in as far a corner as possible on leash and feed her throughout. As she calms down taper the food to longer intervals. 

At risk of sounding naggy, please remember not to ever push her even when she is doing well. If she is happy laying in a corner eating, that is absolutely great. The idea is to try and keep her below threshold ALL the time. For Summer, that meant keeping her in the bedroom furthest away from the front door, and only bringing her out if the guests were predictable and could be trusted not to interact with her. Every time she barks or growls, we're setting her back a little, or a lot. With time, lots of great food, some frustration and lots of patience, she'll get there! 

This old thread of ours just popped up. You may read it if you like! 

http://www.goldenretrieverforum.com...ing-success-working-reactive-fearful-dog.html


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## Elisabeth Kazup (Aug 23, 2008)

I have a question about the timing of giving treats. Do you give them WHILE she is barking and growling? If so, you might be inadvertantly rewarding the behavior you don't want.

I would have a treat bowl by the door so guests can pick up a couple. Then have them completely ignore her as Quiz suggests. Once they are in and settled ask them to hold one quietly in their hand, still ignoring her. Let her find her own way to them, in her own time and take the treat.

Her confidence has to come from within her and that will happen if, when she ventures towards something scarey, something very good happens. She will look for that more often and see visitors and treat dispensers. What girl wouldn't love that!


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## Summer's Mom (Oct 20, 2010)

Agree with everyone! Except.. I still feed Summer if she barks or growls. It means I let her get over threshold, not anything else. Behaviour is just a response to what's happening. My reaction to her barking or growling would be to feed her (over time this will change her emotional response to the stimulus) and lead her away from it. There is relief for these scaredy dogs in getting away from the scary thing. Just be very careful to NOT let them get over threshold again. It happens no matter how hard we try, but the less the better. 

One more tiny thing.. I wouldn't let her eat the treats out of the visitors hands as of yet, or until she is a super confident dog. It is likely to create a lot of stress out of conflict for the dog because on one hand she reallllllly wants the treat, on the other hand they don't want to approach the human holding it. Having visitors toss the treats (as close to her as they can) would be a safer way  We did that with Summer in public also, gave strangers treats that they would toss towards her from a safe distance (initially even as far as 2 metres!)


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## Evie (Dec 22, 2011)

Thanks, everyone. It took her two weeks after she got to us to even make a peep, much less bark at a visitor. Hoping she moves through this phase the way she did that one!


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## Elisabeth Kazup (Aug 23, 2008)

Good points, Summer's mom. I hadn't thought about that.


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## lyssa (Mar 1, 2011)

Just wanted to add a little suggestion... perhaps set it up so that you have your visitors come in, and you are with Evie, perhaps with you sitting, as far away as you need to be without her going over threshold. Just before they come in, you start giving her a heap of attention and feeding her really fantastic treats (warm chicken with a touch of garlic is a good choice). Have the people come in for a minute or so, and stuff her full of food as they are there. If she won't take the food then she is over threshold (ie, if she is trying to growl etc and not concentrating on how yummy the food is, if that is the case you need to move further away).

Then have the people leave. The food stops. Not a drop of food, maybe just a little pat but not the wonderful time she was having just a moment before. Then have them come back in again. Food and attention begin. People go out, everything stops, move a couple of steps closer, people come in, rinse and repeat. The message being, you get great things when people are here, so you should be actually welcoming them coming in! If she shows any sign of getting upset, move away some more. You may need to be in another room - hard to tell quite how reactive she is from what you said - but within eyesight would be great.

Eventually, after a couple of sessions (you will definitely need some willing volunteers for this! up and down and up and down) you should be able to have her attention and feed her treats quite close to the visitors without her being worried. Each time you move closer, increase the rate of treats that you are giving her, and as she is successful you can slow down a bit. This is especially true as you get really close. When she is relaxed quite near the visitors, give them bits of chicken and get them to toss them for her. I agree with the other comment that visitors shouldn't be hand feeding her. That would come another good couple of weeks down the line IMO.

Make sure it is boring before the visitors come, and then after. This technique is more classical conditioning like others suggested, just with a little twist on it. You could use some operant conditioning techniques too, such as some taught clicker cues, but the classical stuff may well do the job anyway. Try to stop her getting in a situation where she gets like that, the more she does it, the more she will do it - or that is generally the rule. So be proactive and only have visitors come in when you are ready to control her environment. At first concentrate on only a couple of different people, then get some new people, then people wearing strange clothing, uniforms if possible, hats and so on. Shy dogs can have problems with those things and once you have the basics down with her you will need to 'proof' it.

You were on the right track in my opinion, you may just have some quicker results if you can explain visitors = good more explicitly to your Evie. Sorry about the length of the essay I just wrote! -.-


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## Evie (Dec 22, 2011)

Thanks again for all the good suggestions. I took her outside this morning to greet someone and then brought dog and human in together -- she did very well. She's a work in progress, for sure! And as long as there is progress, even in baby steps, I'm happy.


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