I have an abused dog and one who is extremely shy. I’ve learned that my body language may have been making it worse because I was tense whenever one of my dogs’ “fear-people” was around. It helps if you act in an exaggeratedly comfortable manner. Don’t pay any attention to the dog and tell your guest not to, either. Show that you are really happy to see this person by smiling and talking in a soft, high voice like you would when you greet the dog.
God, I’m going through this. I hate to tell ya, but it usually just gets worse as they get older. My dog used to be afraid of loudly rumbling thunder when she was a pup and now she shakes and cries if the wind blows. I have to give her Valuim or she makes herself hysterical.
On the other hand…
My girlfriend’s old roommate had a dog that was perfectly fine with any guy as long as he had hair.
I had shaggy hair and the pup loved me…same with our friend chad…
My gf’s dad was bald and if he took his hat off, the dog went crazy, barking and carrying on, until his head was covered. She did the same later with a friend that had a shaved head. Guess some dogs are scared of hats, others - premature baldness…
heh…
My dogs hated the dog walker when she first came over. This is a woman who knows all about dogs and dog behaviour. Dogs love her. My dogs were scared to death of her (at first, but they got over it). All we could figure is that, with all the other animal smells on her, she reminded them of the vet. They hate the vet.
I don’t think that dogs are great judges of human character. Rather, I feel (like Lissa) that dogs pick up on your own feelings even if you don’t recognize them at first. I’ll bet a new fiance was pretty nervous as was the family, so the dog picked up on the tension. The aussies I’ve known have been really tuned in to their owners, so I can imagine any apprehension (even being nervous about trying to make the guy feel welcome) was probably noted.
And, sometimes, silly things weird dogs out. My older dog runs from me when I wear wedges. I have no idea why that is. I put on wedge shoes and she runs for cover. :rolleyes:
And it’s easy to see why. Think about it - the postman comes up to your door every day, but is never let in to the house. The dog concludes that the postman is an unwelcome visitor and responds accordingly.
My dog goes berzerk when we sneeze. I don’t know if he thinks we’re exploding or what, but he gets very agitated and in your face - all barky and jumpy and paws all over. And since the whole house has allergies (including hayfever) it can be a real pain in the butt with Mr. Thang jumping in your lap. That and the fact that he’s over 100 lbs. now. OUCH.
Last May - for the very first time in my life - I met a dog that didn’t like me. The dog never barks but when I walked in, she started barking, growling and raised her hackles. That’s never ever happened to me before and I was really upset by it. (Yeah, I’m overly sensitive, I know.) I finally won her over with deli meat.
My dog hates people in puffy coats. I think he just has a discerning sense of fashion.
There was something about him that set her off, probably some kind of physical feature. Maybe he resembled her arch-enemy the mailman, or his evil sidekick the meter-reader.
My dog also barks at people with funny hats. If it changes the shape of the head, she is against it. One time when we were hiking these people came down the trail with those mosquito-net hats on. She started growling and barking and didn’t let up until they were gone.
Also for years she would bark at black people. They just looked wrong to her. She finally got used to them but it took several years, since I didn’t really have many black people in my social circle for her to grow accustomed to. One time at a party this black guy with a huge afro walked in and she FLIPPED OUT - it was the double whammy of wrong color-funny shaped head. It was rather embarrassing.
I’ve heard a lot of people say their dogs didn’t like certain ethnic groups but I’m heistant to believe that it’s actually the person’s skin color to which they’re reacting.
Dogs don’t seem to notice “fur color” on themselves or on people. Since they probably can’t see the peachy color of white people’s skin, we’re probably all just different shades of grey to them.
I think that in a lot of cases, the owner’s anticipation is what sets off the dog. Sparky barks at strangers. The owner notices once or twice that the person Sparky’s barking at is black, so when the owner sees another black guy, they get a little tense because they’re expecting Sparky to go nuts.
My dogs “know” when we’re going to the vet for the same reason. They usually dance with delight when they see me get out the leashes, but when I go to get them to take them to the vet, the dogs hide. They can sense in my tension that I’m nervous about their reaction, and so they get stressed from that, not because they know where we’re going.
Sorry, but in this case you are wrong. My dog had a strong reaction immediately to black people, there was no “learning curve” of the behavior. My dog barked at black people that I didn’t even see. For example, at the party, I was in a totally different room at the time. She also barked at black people she saw on the sidewalk while I was busy driving. She could not smell them, and I certainly wasn’t anticipating her bark since I didn’t even know they were there. There was no reason for her to do it other than the fact that to her, they were the wrong color. I should also point out that she usually did not bark at light-skinned black people. Also, she really doesn’t do it anymore. This is probably because I’ve discouraged it and because in the last 5 years I have been living in Oakland and Richmond, where black people make up a large portion of the population. She’s used to dark skin now.
