Hi Shannon

My name is Michelle; we own a six month old Bullmastiff. He has always been a very outgoing and adventurous puppy, but cautious towards strangers. Since he is getting older the problem with meeting strangers is getting worse. We have just had him neutered in the hope that it will settle him a bit, and it has definitely helped with the frustration he had. We stay on a huge property on the beach front, so there is no noise from cars, dogs barking etc and I have since realized that it is not a good thing for a young dog. They need to be desensitised almost from all those strange things when they young. I know it is late but I have just started taking him to socialising classes hoping that it will help. He has been to two and it is going well. There was such an improvement the second day, he was a lot more relaxed with all the strange noises and other dogs.

The problem I have with him is if anyone approaches him he actually backs away totally, he wants to have nothing to do with other people, yet if he sees anyone from our family or someone that he knows, then he pulls and leaps to greet the person. Being at training the handlers obviously encourage him to greet strangers and it has come to the point where he growls at people, even sometimes showing his teeth if they persist with trying to touch him. He will not let the handlers touch him or even take the lead from me. The one handler tried to push on his quarters while encouraging him to sit, and he snapped at him. I know its early days, with his training, but I don't want to sit back and just hope that he grows out of it, I need to know that I am doing all that I can to help him grow into a well adjusted dog. He really is an awesome animal and adores his family, he is fine with us taking food from him, he shows us the family no dominance what so ever, I think it is purely fear or strangers.

Help? What do I do? Do I reprimand him when he shows aggression towards strangers, or do I ignore it, when they persistently try to touch him? Do I just keep him away from those situations? Or do I carry on encouraging him to get some confidence in strangers? I have never had this problem with Bullmastiffs before, and he is our third. Saying all that, it is always when he is on a lead. If the people don't look at him or lean over to touch or greet him, then he is quite happy to stand next to them and just ignore them, it is only if someone makes a fuss of him.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Regards
Stranger Ranger

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Hi Stranger Ranger,

To answer your questions:

Your dog has a fear of strangers and people pushing themselves onto him is only going to reinforce this fear. The reason he only behaves like this on lead is because he can't escape the situation. Strangers should not invade his space at this stage at all. Furthermore any aggressive behaviour that results in people backing off will only teach him to be aggressive to solve his problem.

While the person who pushed his backside down was well intentioned, this was a really unwise move - this experience on its own has confirmed to your dog that strangers are bad news. Furthermore, any form of compulsive training has a number of risky side effects and your dog would benefit most from a positive reinforcement training approach.

Right now he needs to be in an environment with strangers with them minding their own business - training classes are ideal, provided he is not pressurised. Once he has been doing this for a while you can ask him to stand closer and closer to strangers. Let him approach people with you - do not have them approach you. Choose your "strangers" wisely. They should remain calm and initially they should ignore him. After a while they can stand close to him, but alongside him - not face to face. They can hold a treat in their hand and let him eat this treat while they continue a conversation with you or another stranger. Try and get a couple of different people to do this. After a while you will find that your dog will willingly approach these people. Then you can ask him to tolerate touching and petting.

It is imperative to go slowly. If he backslides then go back to the previous level of success and build him up again. Do not put him into situations where he feels that he has to behave aggressively to protect himself. His fear is real to him and needs to be addressed slowly and systematically. Can you imagine how you would feel if you were forced to confront your worst fear and you had no way of escaping? This pressure reduces the trust that he has in you and will make him even more liable to be aggressive as he feels that he has to take charge of the situation.

Be careful not to reinforce fear by saying "It's OK, it's all right etc". This only serves to confirm to the dog that something is very wrong. Just continue chatting and pretend that all is normal. Breathe slowly, relax yourself and keep a loose lead. If you are tense he will pick this up. If need be, close your eyes and imagine him standing calmly next to you.

Your dog is probably already in his pre-puberty/major fear stage. This normally occurs at seven to eight months, but in this case it seems to have started early. This stage often throws up some surprises for the owners as dogs "spook" at stimuli that may have not presented any problems before.

Most importantly remember that he is your dog and you are within your rights to insist that people refrain from pushing his limits. If he bites it's because he has been pushed too far. Go slowly and let his reactions guide you.

Best of luck
Shannon