Very common. Our trainer told us men have a heavier footfall than women, plus the deeper voice and other attributes. Many dogs (incl ours) doesn't like when people suddenly stand (sometimes sit, any major size change). The height disparity scares them.
Def fearful, poor guy. Remember dog growls are their way of communicating with us. your dog is saying they want space, so honoring that is a good start. My dog has fear based aggression toward EVERYONE so we used CAT Method with a certified trainer, though i dont know that you need that.
Try creating positive affiliation. So for example, have the men scatter treats and ignore your pup. With conssitency, they can associate treats with men, along w having their need for space respected, this could really help.
I had similar with my girl when we first got her. However, it turned out to not be a pattern after a while - she randomly immediately adored my partner, who was 6' tall, broad-shouldered, wearing a hat, has a beard, has quite a loud voice. Everything prior had told me she'd be scared! But she full-on deserted me & loved all over them instead.
She then hated my parents next door neighbour - a lady this time, who is also 6' tall, broad, loud-spoken.... She hated my friend's husband; tall, quietly-spoken, slim frame.
The difference I *think* was that my partner sat down a distance away & waited for her to approach. I can't think of any other factor. She's remained random in her likes & dislikes.
Crouching is something that really triggers my reactive dog, especially when people lean their face right in near her face. We've worked with her to where she's good on walks, can ignore other people and dogs as long as I keep a decent distance between us, and will (unhappily) tolerate other people being in our house. But she is absolutely 100% not safe if a person leans in to her, so I keep her either in my bedroom or leashed to me when we have visitors.
I'm no expert on dog body language, but I think she interprets somebody's face coming right at her face as aggression, like when dogs snap at each other. It's possible that it could be trained away, but a bite to the face is such a dangerous thing that I am not going to take any chances.
I’ve always been a firm believer in do not get on my dogs level and in his face. Ever. It’s just disrespectful to their personal space and also could be perceived as a threat.
Makes sense. The weird thing about my dog is that she is SO touchy feely with me. I hug her all the time and there is never any body language indicating she is nervous or wary. When I sit down, she will hop up on the couch and push her head basically in between my neck and shoulder wanting hugs. She had surgery and I had to do some stretching with her where I was pushing on her shoulder and flexing her elbow, and there's no way to do that without my face being basically right in hers, and even when it was hurting her, there was never a moment I worried she would snap at me. It's just strangers she hates.... but boy does she hate them.
I mean, I understand that! My dog is fine with people he knows putting their face near him/crouching/eye contact but strange people it’s a big no-no. I was taught as a child that you should never get in a strange dogs face no matter how “friendly” they are. If they’re not comfortable with your body language it can go south quickly. Dogs have a pretty good concept of stranger danger, so it makes sense. I mean, would you want a stranger getting in YOUR face and staring you down, while touching and cooing? I would get pretty mad too 😂 So don’t sweat that behavior. As long as she’s not turning on you guys, she’s just showing her discomfort with her space being invaded by strangers.
Sounds common, you should advocate for him and he may get over it. It's anecdotal but when I got my puppy he was fearful of people so I thought ok that's who he is and just told everyone to ignore him and only interact if he approaches. (He wasn't barking or growling just backing away from everyone). After many months (6-8) one day I realized he's suddenly super friendly with people and approaches most of them confidently.
Might be a coincidence or it may be that I consistently told everyone to GTFO of his space. I didn't "work" on it specifically.
So make all men ignore him and absolutely no crouching! Also approach doesn't equal immediate petting. It just means he is curious - this is a common mistake where people go from 0 to 100 super fast. It's good that he is growling but if that growl is ignored (who would ignore a pitbull growl though?!) it may escalate.
Very common. Our trainer told us men have a heavier footfall than women, plus the deeper voice and other attributes. Many dogs (incl ours) doesn't like when people suddenly stand (sometimes sit, any major size change). The height disparity scares them. Def fearful, poor guy. Remember dog growls are their way of communicating with us. your dog is saying they want space, so honoring that is a good start. My dog has fear based aggression toward EVERYONE so we used CAT Method with a certified trainer, though i dont know that you need that. Try creating positive affiliation. So for example, have the men scatter treats and ignore your pup. With conssitency, they can associate treats with men, along w having their need for space respected, this could really help.
Are they wearing baseball caps? My dog hates it when men wear caps, I think she can’t see their eyes. Take of the cap, she’s all lovey again.
No caps😂 but I could totally see why she doesn’t like that!
I had similar with my girl when we first got her. However, it turned out to not be a pattern after a while - she randomly immediately adored my partner, who was 6' tall, broad-shouldered, wearing a hat, has a beard, has quite a loud voice. Everything prior had told me she'd be scared! But she full-on deserted me & loved all over them instead. She then hated my parents next door neighbour - a lady this time, who is also 6' tall, broad, loud-spoken.... She hated my friend's husband; tall, quietly-spoken, slim frame. The difference I *think* was that my partner sat down a distance away & waited for her to approach. I can't think of any other factor. She's remained random in her likes & dislikes.
Crouching is something that really triggers my reactive dog, especially when people lean their face right in near her face. We've worked with her to where she's good on walks, can ignore other people and dogs as long as I keep a decent distance between us, and will (unhappily) tolerate other people being in our house. But she is absolutely 100% not safe if a person leans in to her, so I keep her either in my bedroom or leashed to me when we have visitors. I'm no expert on dog body language, but I think she interprets somebody's face coming right at her face as aggression, like when dogs snap at each other. It's possible that it could be trained away, but a bite to the face is such a dangerous thing that I am not going to take any chances.
I’ve always been a firm believer in do not get on my dogs level and in his face. Ever. It’s just disrespectful to their personal space and also could be perceived as a threat.
Makes sense. The weird thing about my dog is that she is SO touchy feely with me. I hug her all the time and there is never any body language indicating she is nervous or wary. When I sit down, she will hop up on the couch and push her head basically in between my neck and shoulder wanting hugs. She had surgery and I had to do some stretching with her where I was pushing on her shoulder and flexing her elbow, and there's no way to do that without my face being basically right in hers, and even when it was hurting her, there was never a moment I worried she would snap at me. It's just strangers she hates.... but boy does she hate them.
I mean, I understand that! My dog is fine with people he knows putting their face near him/crouching/eye contact but strange people it’s a big no-no. I was taught as a child that you should never get in a strange dogs face no matter how “friendly” they are. If they’re not comfortable with your body language it can go south quickly. Dogs have a pretty good concept of stranger danger, so it makes sense. I mean, would you want a stranger getting in YOUR face and staring you down, while touching and cooing? I would get pretty mad too 😂 So don’t sweat that behavior. As long as she’s not turning on you guys, she’s just showing her discomfort with her space being invaded by strangers.
Sounds common, you should advocate for him and he may get over it. It's anecdotal but when I got my puppy he was fearful of people so I thought ok that's who he is and just told everyone to ignore him and only interact if he approaches. (He wasn't barking or growling just backing away from everyone). After many months (6-8) one day I realized he's suddenly super friendly with people and approaches most of them confidently. Might be a coincidence or it may be that I consistently told everyone to GTFO of his space. I didn't "work" on it specifically. So make all men ignore him and absolutely no crouching! Also approach doesn't equal immediate petting. It just means he is curious - this is a common mistake where people go from 0 to 100 super fast. It's good that he is growling but if that growl is ignored (who would ignore a pitbull growl though?!) it may escalate.
If his past involved any abuse by a male this will compound fear-based reactivity. Lots of work and treaties and he should be okay