Question ?

Ok My older boy is 2 /12 now ... This dog is such a great family dog I can't stress enough how loving he is with people he knows in his home. But if anyone knocks on the door. He goes straight to the door and barks and growls. He has always been very alert I mean any noise he hears he jumps up on guard and growls like he is ready to attack. If strangers come in the house (strangers) sometimes he will growl & barks but as soon as they approach him and I tell him to stop he is ok. I don't understand him I have had him since he was a pup he was always feisty but he has always been on guard. He has never ever bitten a human but he has growled at strangers or barked at them if they come in our home . Have any of your dogs ever been like this? He will run outside and start growling for no reason and barking. Any sudden sound or anything he is on it. Has anyone seen this in their own dog?

I want to add he is very close to me and the kids. So overprotective. My ex boyfriend would come in the house and pedee would growl at him. He never liked him LOL. Just curious to see if anyone else has had these issues where it seemed like your dog my be very protective over his family even when he was never trained to be like that.

Yeah. I'll admit Rocky is protective, of me mostly..

RedDoggy wrote:

Sounds like my Sweet Pea!!! There are ways to correct this behavior... If you want to. We can chat or PM these evening

Sound good to me LOL. Ok good I thought my dog was a nut head maniac LOL

Loki is very much like this! Part of me likes it because if someone is trying to break into our house while we are asleep, he will alert us to it (him and the security system, yeah, it's a sh*t neighborhood). But he does the same thing when people come over, goes charging towards the door, and once he realizes you're okay, it's all licks and wags.

We had an incident when he was about 9 months old, someone broke in to our shop, Loki and Mike, my husband, went running out there and all Loki did was back the guy into a corner. Never bit, didn't even growl. The cops came and busted his a$$. Loki- my hero!

About a week ago though, a couple of my friends stopped by after a wedding, one was holding a bouquet of flowers and Loki flipped out and did that fast, high pitched insecure bark. Freaked them out, but I had to explain that he was just unsure about the flowers...

Reddoggy, I am interested in some tips w/ correcting this as well, feel free to PM me.

to me my dog atlas is was friendly to people..He does not bark at anyone except when he wants to play. Even when he sees another dog he just sits and watches them the whole time. I have even seen people walk about 3 feet away from him and he just sits and watches. So I'm glad that I have a akita and a rott mix to keep my house and atlas safe...

My Missy is the same way...that is why she stays in my bedroom. I personally like her like this. She has never bite or growled at anyone but she has never had the opportunity. My son brought a friend over yesterday, she was at my door flipping out. I took her out there (holding her collar, just in case) took her to him, she was really cautious. Had him hold his hand out backwards and not look at her...in about 2 seconds she was all over him giving kisses and trying to get in his lap. But I have no doubt that if it was a 'bad' stranger she would be in full protection mode.

I'm not so sure it's a bad thing. You say once the strangers come in and tell the dog to quit, that they are ok then. That's also a good thing (when your home and right there)..JMHO

Admin wrote:

I'm not so sure it's a bad thing. You say once the strangers come in and tell the dog to quit, that they are ok then. That's also a good thing (when your home and right there)..JMHO

thats what i was thinking i wouldn't want a dog to watch strangers come in lift my tv and pat him on the head "good boy" and make off. Is he HA out and about on walks and at say petsmart. If not i would say you got your self a thinking alarm system

That is a good and bad behavior it's good because they are protecting the family which they feel is their duty but it's bad because some people view this as human aggression which it isn't, now if you can't call the dog off or the behavior persist even after they are aware that the person is not a threat then yeah that's just human aggression. Midas has always been the only one to get total free roam so of course he is the house protector and does this same behavior yet soon as he is told to knock it off he does unless he is getting a bad vibe from that person and usually at that time I ask whom ever it is to step outside (I totally trust my dogs judgement).