Last Night

[W Sibs]

I took Charlie for a walk last night and as we were walking home, there was 2 men walking towards us... Charlie, who loves people and will often ask to go say hello to everyone, Charlie started growling. Not a normal warning growl/grumble he does when he isn't happy, but the growl that makes the hair on my arm stand up and the growl that people will think twice about approaching him... the closer the men walked closer to us the more menancing his growls were and he even showed teeth, his body was all tense and his ears were sticking up (well as stuck up as floppy ears can stick up)... the 2 men looked really worried/scared and went to go across the road... one guy muttered 'geez, crazy mutt?'. Charlie stopped and watched them cross the road and walk away and he was all good again, he relaxed and started to head home!

I asked him 'what was that about?' but he just gave me one of his 'wasn't i a good boy?' look, that I had to bend down and give him a cuddle and praised him for doing a good job. He walked home very happy with himself (i know this because his butt was wiggling more as he walked and he had a big grin on his face ).

Man, seriously, I didn't think Charlie had that in him He has never ever showned that side of him before, so I honestly believed that he didn't have that in him. He is usually the kind of dog if he gets nervous, he hides behind my legs.

[flatchat]

One of my boys is very protective of me in that sort of a situation. Normally he wouldn't hurt anything or anyone but if he thinks someone might hurt me he will growl very fiercely in a 'don't come near my mum' sort of way. It makes me feel safe.

[Sky_Mel]

Similar thing happened with my last GSD, she never growled or bared her teeth in her whole life and we were walking one day and lips were back, teeth showing and she was growling at a man approaching us. She has never reacted to anyone in her life that way so she picked up on something. Only time in her life she had done that.

[Jetty]

Dogs I believe can sense a bad person. He was protecting you!

Jet has a thing where he will growl at only certain people and they are usually the people that don't look nice.

[macka]

Leia sort of does this sometimes. She doesn't growl but she barks sometimes at people on the street. And I never understand why as usually we walk past people (even quite close on the same footpath) and she doesn't even blink at them. Yet rarely at other times she barks and whines.

[W Sibs]

Aww.. it is nice to know that my boy is trying to protect me

[dee lee]

Honey tried to protect me from a statue this morning.

She can be very protective if someone makes her nervous. Generally its people in hoodies, obese people, autistic kids and some old people.

Yet she wagged her tail at the 3 young hoods up to no good outside my house .

[Parkeyre]

2 men looked really worried/scared and went to go across the road...

[FranVT]

Atlas and I were out on a walk once and I saw a perfectly harmless-looking Aboriginal man walking towards us. Atlas' hackles went up and he became quite tense. I told him 'it's alright' and he relaxed a bit but not completely until the man had walked past us. He kept looking back for awhile too. I thought that was very strange as he was normally very friendly to people A few days later our neighbour came over to tell us that a group of Aboriginal kids/teenagers that hangs out in the park diagonally opposite the house were tormenting him, running sticks up and down the fence and trying to throw things at him I went over and had a chat to them (politely but firmly) and they never did it again (according to our neighbour whom I asked to keep an eye out as she was home all day most days). But he was always wary of Aboriginal people after that I suppose it came in handy when we had the intruder last year however I think that was due to his threatening body language / shouting more than his race.

Luuka likes to protect me from the vacuum cleaner. She is teh bravest.

Edited July 30, 2010 by FranCQ

[Evolving]

Bob has done the same before.

I used to walk him late at night just before bed and once night a man started walking behind me and he started growling.

Like Charlie Bob is not a real growler at people he just did not like someone close to me at night.

[W Sibs]

Bob has done the same before.

I used to walk him late at night just before bed and once night a man started walking behind me and he started growling.

Like Charlie Bob is not a real growler at people he just did not like someone close to me at night.

Did you feel weird when he did it? Or were you surprised?

Because it shocked the hell out of me!!

[Evolving]

Bob has done the same before.

I used to walk him late at night just before bed and once night a man started walking behind me and he started growling.

Like Charlie Bob is not a real growler at people he just did not like someone close to me at night.

Did you feel weird when he did it? Or were you surprised?

Because it shocked the hell out of me!!

Yes it is just not what he does sometimes he is a little timid of strangers when he is on his lead but never growls at people.

I was proud of him though because he was just trying to make him keep his distance.

[corvus]

Sometimes dogs get startled by someone and act differently. Kivi has a couple of times been surprised by our neighbour coming out of her place early in the morning when we are getting the dogs in the car. The tail comes up, ears go forward and he goes to the end of the lead and gives a mighty alert bark. Kivi has never growled in his life, so I think that's about as defensive as he gets. He is fine with that person and we know she's lovely, but he's never expecting to see her so she surprises him when she appears. Erik is about a thousand times more alert than Kivi and does not alert bark at this perosn.

My last dog used to suddenly growl at random people from time to time. I got to know when she did it. Usually when she was somewhere she didn't normally see strangers, particularly if she saw them from a distance. I no longer think that whenever dogs growl at a stranger it is a true indication of that person's character. I think that most of the time the person just doesn't fit into the normal stranger category due to some small detail being different, like they have a slight limp, the dog didn't see them right away, the dog feels they are coming up behind them and can't see what they are doing, it's a place or time when strangers are not normal occurrences, and so on and so on. Given Erik gets upset about the TINIEST of details out of the ordinary, I think the chances are high a dog that is behaving peculiarly is just noticing something out of the ordinary. That is not to say that "something" is not also something in that person's demeanor that is related to them being a shady character.

[Cleo's Corgwyn]

Shandy did something similar when we were out walking one evening. There was a young man standing in the car park as we walked past - just standing there, like he was waiting for someone- and Shandy started growling the minute she saw him, and didn't stop until we were out of sight. I on't know what set her off, but she did NOT like him!

[Nekhbet]

Are you sure you are rewarding real protection, or the fact the dog may have become disorientated or confused in what I'm assuming is low light and you rewarded a fabulous fear reaction.

I think a lot of people are mistaking confusion and fear for your dog being your fearless protector. I agree with corvus, being 'different' doesnt mean shady. And many times these reactions come at night when a lot of dogs are put off guard due to lower visability, hence they feel the need to flip into defence mode faster. Dont necessarily take that as something to be happy about. Being alert is one thing, lunging out for no really GOOD reason (apart from the one you feel the need to come up with like 'they must have been a bad person") is something I would look at. CHange your habits or reevaluate your dogs overall control and behaviour.

How many of you have socialised your dog in low light/night situations? We forget about this. Just as important as daytime.

She can be very protective if someone makes her nervous. Generally its people in hoodies, obese people, autistic kids and some old people.

I'd be fixing that quick smart. That shows lack of socialisation and anxiety at the unknown, no one is showing her how to react so she flips into 'get the heck away from me whatever you are!' mode.

Leia sort of does this sometimes. She doesn't growl but she barks sometimes at people on the street. And I never understand why as usually we walk past people (even quite close on the same footpath) and she doesn't even blink at them. Yet rarely at other times she barks and whines

Barking and whining is not protecting you. That is an investigative response and probably frustration at not being able to get to what she wants to see.

Edited July 30, 2010 by Nekhbet

[whiskedaway]

Luuka likes to protect me from the vacuum cleaner. She is teh bravest.

Akira tried to protect me from the vacuum cleaner tonight too. She is getting braver, normally she runs away in fear the instant it comes close.

[Sydoo]

Billie is not much of a guard dog normally (I have had to climb over her slumbering form in bed to investigate noises) but whenever OH is away, she puts herself on duty. She will come to bed with me but sits bolt upright on my feet facing the doorway, ears pricked. Every noise is investigated promptly and then she rushes back to my feet again. I don't think she gets any sleep until I go to work the next morning.

[sallyandtex]

Hey,

My (now deceased @ 17 yrs) Zac dog did the same thing only TWICE in his 17 years. I beleive he could sense a bad person, or what they were thinking. Once to a man who looked sus, but amazingly, one other time to a teenage girl walking along. astonishing. They have a 6th sense

[lovemesideways]

Rover will give a alert growl and/or bark if he sees someone at the door or outside. We haven't discouraged this as a few times he has alerted us to strange people at the door and in yard. One day there was some guy in our yard for an unknown reason, Rover went to the backdoor and barked 3 times. We let him outside and saw this guy bail over the fence and run off as big "scary" black dog was let out the door and came running towards him. Little did he know that Rover would have just wagged his tail and tried to lick his legs . (He loves summer, cause summer means shorts and lotsa legs to lick )

He has once barked in a way that made me think, that he was deadly serious.

I was waiting to turn left and a guy got stuck waiting behind me. He starts beeping his horn, revving his car and inching slowly forward closer to my car (even though there where cars coming and there was no way for me to turn!). Rover was laying on the back seat. I was getting a little stressed from this guy, who I could see in my mirror was getting more and more agitated. Finally he gets out of his car, slamming the door and comes stomping towards me. Big guy too. I was freaked out so locked the doors. He comes up and slams on my window with his fist, swearing and yelling. Rover was on alert in a second, he stood up, growling deep in his throat and gave a few loud barks. The guy jumped back and then looked at Rover, who was staring out with window, growling, ears forward, tail up. He went to take a step towards the car again and Rover stepped closer to the window, barked again, still growling. The guy jumped back, and I looked back from rover and saw there was a break in traffic so drove quickly away. Second we drove off Rover completely relaxed again and lay back down.

The way he stood and moved, I've never seen that before or since. It didn't look like he was at all uncertain, every inch of his body language said "Piss off and don't you care come closer." When the guy stepped forward, so did rover. There wasn't any hesitation. I could be wrong and it could have been fear or uncertainty.

There have been other times when something just weirded him out and he barked or growled. At a shopping trolley in a random place (middle of a oval), random guy with a beer, kid in a hoody riding a small bike. In those situations though, the way he sounded and moved was different.

Edited July 31, 2010 by lovemesideways