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biting strangers
by nancy
ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
I have an 8 year old female who is wonderfully behaved until a stranger walks into the house. She instantly barks and nips their leg. After she realizes they are staying, she is fine. We scold her for this behavior, but she repeats it the next time someone arrives. Any ideas as to how to break this habit in an older dog?
DISCUSSION:
Hi! I would scold her then if she does not obey then simply bring her into a small room were no one is and keep her there for awile... She will surely gt the point and hopefully never do it again though if she does repeat this pattern... Best of luck!
Put a leash and a regular collar on and don't jerk. Have him sit and stay while you answer the door. Carry on in a very friendly (jolly) manner and then allow the dog to sniff the visitor. Do not jerk your Maltese with or without a training collar!!
Abby
It's going to take a little more correcting to keep her from biting. Put a training collar on her, small size or course, and have her on leash while a stranger comes in. If she goes to bite give her a strong correction with the collar and leash. If you don't know how to do this please take her to an obedience class and learn how. Biting is not nice behavior for a Maltese, usually the last thing for this breed to do. It's suprising to me to hear of all these snapping Maltese. Don't put up with it. Just putting her in another room will only make the behavior continue.
Mary Lou
The strangest thing happened yesterday with our Snowball. The Pizza Hut man came to our door to deliver and Snowball went bonkers. At first she was just barking and then out of nowhere she grabbed his pants leg and wouldn't let go. I'm thinking it's a territorial thing and I'm sure our delivery boy wasn't offended and bothered by this - he laughed and thought it was very cute considering her size. I, on the other hand, was extremely embarrassed that my munchkin would do such a thing. I guess they have minds of their own....
Kathy
To lighten the mood... Once, my mom wanted to see what Clover would do if I was 'attacked.' So she pretended to punch me while I 'screamed.' He layed down next to me and glared at my mom; then he crawled on top of me to 'protect' me! It was adorible. But when she didn't stop, he just opened his mouth so her fist went in his mouth. He closed it and just held her fist there. It was quite funny, really. Don't worry; she wasn't really punching him or me!
Also, I might have to shave poor C-dog. He wasn't letting my sister brush him (he'd hold the brush in his mouth!) while she was watching him for 2 1/2 weeks, and is quite matted. I could get them out but sitting there for three or four hours brushing isn't my idea of great fun. He's hot, too, I think, so a shorter hair cut might be benifical to him!
~Karen and the C-dog
Karen&Clover
Karen and C-Dog --- I know JUST what you mean. I found out that my Turbo is just as protective of me - by accident of course. I was goofing around with my boyfriend (wrestling) and He had knocked me to the floor and I was screaming (in fun) - but Turbo would have nothing of that. He started barking at my boyfriend and then Turbo jumped at him and grabbed his shirt trying to pull him off of me. I started cracking up - and then told my boyfriend to do it again - and we got the same reaction. turbo is not protective of my boyfriend - only me. Once I stopped screaming - Turbo would run to my side and "guard" over me.
I just love him a million times more for that (if that's possible)
BTD
I disagree with some of the advice. If you "correct" him with a leash jerk, what do you think will happen (eventually)? You'll probably end up with a dog who aggressively dislikes anyone coming in the door because he associates a jerk with a visitor. Is this what you want?
anneh
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