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My adult dog has started biting strangers who come to the house

3K views 1 reply 2 participants last post by  Tess 
#1 ·
We live on 10 acres, with three houses all shared by family. My parents have a 115lb Mastif/Lab mix, my grandmother has an 85lb Golden Doodle and we have an 85lb German Shepherd, a 55lb Border Collie/Lab/Shepherd mix and a 22lb dachshund. All the dogs get along great, however, when strangers come to any of the houses, while all the dogs bark, the little one has started biting. We have found this can usually be avoided if the person bends down (Knee to the ground) and acknowledges her first. However, this isn't always possible as we may not be out in the yard (we have an invisible fence that keeps them all in) if the fedex driver or someone else pulls up. She's now bitten our maid, the sherrif and our neighbor. We tried a muzzle when she was outside but she hurt herself trying to get it off.

I'm not sure if this is a kind of "nepolian complex", since she's the smallest one or some sort of bid for attention (she gets most of the attention anyway) but at this point, if we can't stop it, we'll have to find her a new home. Any advice would be helpful.
 
#2 ·
Seems like the place to start here is simply with management that does not allow the little dog to run with the group and have free access to visitors. Unless you can be present anytime someone arrives, the danger will continue.

If you can set things up so the dog cannot bite people, then you can begin to work on counter conditioning the dog to be less reactive to visitors. That becomes a whole other step, but the management part is essential for starters.
 
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