Territorial dog

ncmc

Hi all, I’m hoping someone here can give me a bit of advice about my dog. She is a 4 year old cocker spaniel. She has always been a bit nervous of strangers and is very nervous around kids. She manifests this by barking like crazy when a stranger comes near her and growls if they get too close. The reality is that she’s all bark and no bite, if someone does approach her, she tends to run away. However lately, she has gotten crazy territorial. She goes nuts if anyone comes near our house and this morning she ran barking at our neighbour who came out of her house 3 doors up. She gets aggressive with other dogs if they get too close to our house. We live in an estate and our front garden is totally open, so obviously there are always people coming and going and passing our house. I know I could keep her away from the front, but on these nice mornings, it’s nice to sit out the front and I’d prefer if she could sit with me. Any idea how I can tackle this? I can’t understand why she is so nervous, we have had her since she was a puppy and she has always been very well treated and loved. Would appreciate any advice. TIA

Chris_Heilong

Thats the thing socilisation is the best option, I know this can be hard to do but if you have any friends that also have dogs then try walking your dog with theirs together, your dog will feel part of the pack and a few days of this will calm him/her down when around other dogs. I would suggest inviting people over that are willing to get barked at and ask them to help you by sitting next to the dog for a few minutes and later when the dog is calm get them to offer him a snack, repeat this with as many people as possible and the dog will associate people with something positive.

cocker5

From what you wrote seems liuke she def needs socialisation...

Is she out of the house much??
Does she mix wth people or dogs outside your home??

ncmc

That's the thing though, we have been making an effort to socialise her more recently and she seemed to be getting better. She is fine with people once she gets used to them and is better when we are not there. They love her in the kennels I bring her to and I left her with my inlaws for a week recently and she was great over there, they all love her. It's just the mad barking at people round 'her territory' she is frightening people as she does come across as quite ferocious even though it is all bark! I don't know my neighbours that well so can't really use them as guinea pigs. I would ideally like to get her used to kids, but am nervous of her round kids as she is pretty terrified of them and growls quite a bit.

She has also gotten very odd with other dogs recently, she used to get on better with strange dogs, I can't understand why the recent change.

ghost_ie

She wouldn't consider the kennels and your in-laws as her territory, hence no barking.

Have you had the dog since she was a pup or is she a rescue dog? In what way has she become very odd towards other dogs?