Dog suddenly aggressive ??

theoldbreed

Hi everyone,
I'm really quite upset writing this. I have a six year old Golden Retriever, have had him since he was a puppy. If you are familiar with the breed you'll know what they're like. He is typical. Very much part of the family, patient, gentle, playful, social etc. He gets on well with dogs, seems to ignore small dogs for some reason. He is good with kids etc.
However there is an issue with the postman and I am looking for some advice.
We live in the countryside so know the postman well-ish. I got some registered post last Thursday morning. I was in the kitchen washing up and our dog was outside playing with his Kong in garden. I then hear the front door open and the postman yell it's only me. He left the post on hall table. In the meantime dog had heard van pull in so came around to nosey. He began to bark at postman. Postman is in house and dog is on front step. I called him away and that was fine, was shocked as he rarely barks at all and I've never known him to bark at a person.
The next day when postman came he barked again, postman didn't come in this time.
Today he barked as soon as he pulled up and postman was afraid to get out, I went out to get post and when he handed over post he growled.
Now dog had never and I mean never shown any aggression. This postman had been coming for a few years with the odd exception and this never happened before. Dog is in good form otherwise. He's like my shadow and hate to think something is up.
We joke about what a crap guard dog he would be. I mean last winter a mouse jumped out from under stove, landed on him and he just looked at it. That's how harmless he is. I just don't know what happened.
Needless to say he'll be inside around post time in future. I'm just shocked and upset.

Cherry Blossom

Postman came into your house uninvited OP, that's what happened.

Since the dog will be in now tie a bag of treats to your door handle. Ask the postman to post a few treats through the letterbox, then your mail, then another few treats.

maggiepip

Your dogs not being aggressive. Hes sending out an alert theres a man in a uniform invading the property, and he'd like him to go away. He's probably a bit fearful too. Most dogs intensely dislike postmen.
My lab got more vocal towards strangers entering our property as she got older, so maybe your dog is just giving himself the job now!
Do make sure you keep him in though when the postmans coming and as said above try to associate the postman with nice things, ie treats.

DBB

I would certainly take heed of what's going on with your dog op, especially as it's so out of character.
Has he met the postman in out-of-van mode before? Or met the postman in your house before? I can't help but think that your dog got a bit of a fright when he came upon this uniformed person in his house... Perhaps because it was an out-of-context meeting.
Don't discount an underlying health issue though! Not that a sore tooth or a rumbly tummy would suddenly make a placid dog growl at the postman, but a health issue can make dogs just a little less tolerant, a little more irritable, and this might be underpinning his original reaction to the postman. Certainly, underlying health problems are very frequently in the mix when a dog starts showing unusual or out-of-character behaviours. So, it wouldn't be the worst idea in the world to get him checked out, and keep a very close eye to see is there anything else unusual going on.
When the postman arrives, bring the dog out on lead, and feed him some treats as the postman arrives. The postman should stay in the van. Repeat this every day, and when you see that your dog has made the connection between postman's arrival with food, and is happily anticipating the postman's visit, then the postman himself could start feeding the treats.
My postlady has a box of dog biscuits in her van, every dog on her rounds gets one every day. My dogs love to see her coming... They're such sycophants with her

theoldbreed

Thanks for the advice guys. The postman is terrified of dogs so he's reluctant to give him treats etc at the minute but maybe it's something we can work on.
I kept dog in when postman came yesterday. He didn't bark from inside or anything.
A workman came today, in uniform and straight into our back yard, dog doesn't know him. Dog was outside and when he saw him he went straight over to investigate and just wanted pets and to play which is how he usually is.
He is due a check up end of month so I'll say it to vet too just to be on the safe side.

DBB

It's quite possible then, if the postman doesn't like dogs, that he's giving off vibes that make your dog feel on edge... Can you completely discount the possibility that the postman has tried to plant a kick on your dog, or anything along those lines that has made your dog form the opinion that the postman's an idiot?!

Choc Chip

DBB wrote: »

It's quite possible then, if the postman doesn't like dogs, that he's giving off vibes that make your dog feel on edge... Can you completely discount the possibility that the postman has tried to plant a kick on your dog, or anything along those lines that has made your dog form the opinion that the postman's an idiot?!

We have a local postman who carries a taser and has been known to zap dogs bouncing over to say hello. Not accusing your postman of anything OP, but if he's not a fan of dogs he might have taken precautionary measures that your dog is less than fond of.

theoldbreed

DBB wrote: »

It's quite possible then, if the postman doesn't like dogs, that he's giving off vibes that make your dog feel on edge... Can you completely discount the possibility that the postman has tried to plant a kick on your dog, or anything along those lines that has made your dog form the opinion that the postman's an idiot?!

I can't rule it out no but would hate to think he did something like that. I suppose I'm not looking at it from the viewpoint of someone who is terrified of dogs but then again retrievers are generally like big teddy bears and hard to imagine being afraid of one!
I obviously can't ask him....there was another postman covering his route for a few weeks so maybe it was him and dog associates van etc with bad vibes...
A postman carrying a taser? Wow that's madness.....

tk123

My dog always barks at the postman when he has his bag or comes into the garden but is friendly to him when we see him out and about :rolleyes: I don't consider it aggressive - he's barking to tell the postman to get lost, has a little cry when the post comes through the door because he's not allowed touch it and that's it.. My neighbors don't find it aggressive either if they surprise him as they're passing and he barks initially before recognising and asking for a pet off them (usually with more barking) because they're used to him... BUT when he's doing to somebody who doesn't know that he's really a wuss it could be quite scary and intimidating for them because he's big loud retriever too.. so he's not allowed out in the garden unsupervised - more because I wouldn't trust what somebody might do to him or claim he's done to them.
You said a builder came into the garden and the dog was fine with him etc - that was a bit of a risk to take after what happened with the postman imo?

theoldbreed

tk123 wrote: »

My dog always barks at the postman when he has his bag or comes into the garden but is friendly to him when we see him out and about :rolleyes: I don't consider it aggressive - he's barking to tell the postman to get lost, has a little cry when the post comes through the door because he's not allowed touch it and that's it.. My neighbors don't find it aggressive either if they surprise him as they're passing and he barks initially before recognising and asking for a pet off them (usually with more barking) because they're used to him... BUT when he's doing to somebody who doesn't know that he's really a wuss it could be quite scary and intimidating for them because he's big loud retriever too.. so he's not allowed out in the garden unsupervised - more because I wouldn't trust what somebody might do to him or claim he's done to them.
You said a builder came into the garden and the dog was fine with him etc - that was a bit of a risk to take after what happened with the postman imo?

Not a builder but he walked to the back first. He didn't come to door and dog was in our garden, his garden. I can't keep him inside. He doesn't roam. I've never seen him act like he did towards the postman to anyone. I can count how many times I've heard him bark actually.

VonVix

Nervous people can set the nicest of dogs off. My GSD is nervous of nervous people, if they react weird he will bark at them like "what is wrong? WHAT?" which of course makes the nervous person more nervous when they have a GSD chuffing and barking at them!

Sounds like your dog was spooked, reacted like any spooked dog would. GR's are intelligent, because of this unusual encounter he has remembered the source of the spook-age (if you will) so that's probably why he continues to react towards the postman now.

Your dog isn't being "aggressive" he was communicating his discomfort in the best way a dog can, he can't say "you scared me, please go away!" now the best course of action is to understand how your dog feels about the situation and kindly do what you can to reassure him (and the postman) that there is nothing to be concerned about in this circumstance. DBB's approach to it is a great one.

ThatGeekGirl

I know a few other posters have discussed this above but sure another voice wont hurt haha - my fiance has had dogs for years and had the same issue with a postman. In his scenario the dog would be in the house, the postman would come to the door and throw in letters, the dog would bark like mental, the postman would move on to the next house like normal and the dog would settle down. From the dog's perspective the postman was a stranger coming into his family's territory and he was warning him not to enter, and that the postman "moved on" the dog felt he had done his job and protected them, perpetuating the situation. In the end he had to invite the postman in and show the dog he was welcome. I think the postman also sat for a few mins playing with the dog too. In your situation if your dog had viewed the postman as a threat that never even got into the house, he might have been relatively calm overall. Then one day this threat made it in. He screwed up, he let in the threat so now he is hyper aware when the postman comes and barks/growls to stop it from happening again. I also wouldn't rule out that something might have happened with the postman when you wern't around.

Cherry Blossom

Maybe it's just me, but surely post men that are afraid of dogs are in the wrong profession.

lassykk

Cherry Blossom wrote: »

Maybe it's just me, but surely post men that are afraid of dogs are in the wrong profession.

I have to admit I agree with you here.

I personally can't stand dogs for the most part so I couldn't imagine putting myself in a situation that I had to encounter them every day.

Perhaps the fear in the postmen mentioned came from a bad experience since they took up the job.

It's hard to know but I definitely wouldn't volunteer for that job!

TG1

lassykk wrote: »

Perhaps the fear in the postmen mentioned came from a bad experience since they took up the job.

It's hard to know but I definitely wouldn't volunteer for that job!

I've a friend who loves dogs, she has one herself, but she did a Christmas covering with an post for the busy period. She grew to hate a lot of the dogs on her route. It just goes with the territory, she got nipped through a letterbox, nipped as she cycled and just generally terrorised. She gets dogs and understood she was entering their territory but when she had to do it on a daily basis it started to wear her down!

Since that Christmas, after hearing a personal experience, we just keep our man in the house or out back till the post arrives or it goes past 3:30... It Just makes life easier for everyone I think! We also got an outside letterbox rather than one in the door to save our letters.......

borderlinemeath

My dogs must be the only ones who I actively encourage to interact with the postman. He beeps if he has a parcel and I've taught Benson to take in the post although he prefers parcels to letters. They are also really, really nosy when couriers come with parcels and will try and get into the van to see what might be coming for them. In fairness there's a good lot of dog food deliveries!

In saying that, my dogs are very welcoming of all comers to the gate and garden, but if a person they don't know tries to come into the house there can be a lot of noise, and most of it from Benson, particularly if he sees them from a window if they approach. Although the gates are closed pretty much all the time so strangers can't walk up to the house without us opening the gates and we usually go outside with the dogs so they're welcoming of people once we are there to bring them in as such.

Raminahobbin

Since we had a porch on the family home, Kayla never really experienced the post as a 'bad' thing so she never developed a hatred of it. In fact, if she wandered into the porch before we did and found the post lying there, she'd pick it all up and bring it in to us for a treat. Eventually she learned the sound of the letterbox, and would gallop with delight down to fetch the letters (she even got cute enough to bring one letter at a time, so got multiple treats :P ).

And yet, despite never meeting the postman or developing negative connotations around getting post delivered, if we even drove past the postman doing his rounds she'd go ballistic. No idea how she managed to link it up, or how she was able to recognise the postman specifically.

Choc Chip

borderlinemeath wrote: »

My dogs must be the only ones who I actively encourage to interact with the postman.

That is adorable. I'd LOVE to teach mine to take in the post!

borderlinemeath

Choc Chip wrote: »

That is adorable. I'd LOVE to teach mine to take in the post!

Benson is very easy to teach, once he gets a treat for bringing it in he'd do it all day:D.

tk123

Bailey ripped a letter with a cheque in it years ago after that my mum used to put an open umbrella in the hall to deter him and then I just practiced getting him to leave it. He cries at the post now because he knows he shouldn't touch it and Lucy usually touches it with her paw once and jumps away from it lol

Angel2016

theoldbreed wrote: »

Hi everyone,
I'm really quite upset writing this. I have a six year old Golden Retriever, have had him since he was a puppy. If you are familiar with the breed you'll know what they're like. He is typical. Very much part of the family, patient, gentle, playful, social etc. He gets on well with dogs, seems to ignore small dogs for some reason. He is good with kids etc.
However there is an issue with the postman and I am looking for some advice.
We live in the countryside so know the postman well-ish. I got some registered post last Thursday morning. I was in the kitchen washing up and our dog was outside playing with his Kong in garden. I then hear the front door open and the postman yell it's only me. He left the post on hall table. In the meantime dog had heard van pull in so came around to nosey. He began to bark at postman. Postman is in house and dog is on front step. I called him away and that was fine, was shocked as he rarely barks at all and I've never known him to bark at a person.
The next day when postman came he barked again, postman didn't come in this time.
Today he barked as soon as he pulled up and postman was afraid to get out, I went out to get post and when he handed over post he growled.
Now dog had never and I mean never shown any aggression. This postman had been coming for a few years with the odd exception and this never happened before. Dog is in good form otherwise. He's like my shadow and hate to think something is up.
We joke about what a crap guard dog he would be. I mean last winter a mouse jumped out from under stove, landed on him and he just looked at it. That's how harmless he is. I just don't know what happened.
Needless to say he'll be inside around post time in future. I'm just shocked and upset.

I have a black retriever she is 16 now and is the most wonderful dog however when my brother came to mind her in my house while we were away she freaked out viewed him as an intruder and went mad barking and growling at him and even pinning him to the sofa barking he ran out of the house he was that afraid but when we came home we said to him call down while we are here I will invite you into the house and stay for a while and if she barks I will tell her to stop and calmly let her know that you are allowed in the house as she viewed him as a robber or a stranger in her home without our knowledge he called down reluctantly and she did bark at the start but I did everything that I said I was going to do and now she just welcomes him in with a friendly bark and wag of her tail.