[LastBandit303]

I have a Shih Tzu who is quarter Yorkie.

He is skiddish with people, but gets used to people over time, especially women. but i share a house (basement) with my dad who lives upstairs. he is totally fine with friends who come over upstairs. i had my best friend move in downstairs with me over a year ago for 5 months. he left for a year and a half and just moved back in again. my dog barked at him then and barks at him now no matter what, then and now, whether he comes home or even walks up or down the stairs or out of the bathroom. in between my friend living here, my dad had a buddy renting my friends room for a few months while he was gone. he kind of was an ass to my dog. my friend and my dads friend are the only people he has ever acted like this against. the room they stay/stayed in used to be my dads old room. my theory is that my dog knows that used to be my dads room and since he only freaks out at the two other people who were involved with that room. sorry for a lame post. any thoughts/advice?

 

[traciek88]

Many dogs dislike people or are afraid of them for many reasons, most often those reasons are identifiable. I can't say I know what those issues are here because I don't know enough about this guy or your dog.

Here are some reasons dogs might react badly to people: their gender, skin color, age, items of clothing--especially things like hats, hoodies, and sunglasses or just very dark clothing, odd or abnormal hair styles, disabilities, tone of voice, a scent that the dog doesn't like for some reason, the way the person moves, and of course, the way the human behaves around them. This doesn't necessarily mean someone is being mean to the dog, but that the dog is interpreting something the human is doing in a negative way. There are many normal or even nice things people do that dogs interpret as threatening or scary. It MIGHT be possible he associates anyone coming from that room to be a bully, but it's hard to tell.

I do agree that it's important to pinpoint why the dog doesn't like this guy, but in the meantime have him toss your dog a piece of cheese or hot dog every time he passes through so the dog associates good things with him.

 

[Laco]

They do have their trigger points. When I was a kid, many many years ago, we had a rescue that hated anyone in uniform, police, postal workers, military, didn't matter, anyone wearing a uniform would get snarls and a good showing of teeth. Never knew what may have happened to him, to cause that, nor did he ever get over it.