[mbyron]

Hi all. New to the forum and am desperate to get help for my 1.5 year old pitbull mix. I rescued him last August and have gone through two training programs since then. He's pretty obedient most of the time.

So here's my problem: He's usually friendly towards new people, but there are some people he is not friendly towards, and the problem seems to be getting worse. One of the first trainers we used pointed out that he is very cautious around new people. Sometimes his eyes get really wide, and he gets very still. But now when this happens he usually starts to growl and occassionally bark. When he growls, it's a really low growl, sometimes even I can't hear it. His lips are pulled forward and are tight.

Anyways, I have this one friend who he specifically does not like. I know this and always have him on a close leash if she's around. I have told her to completely ignore him, and that usually satisfies him. But the other day she was standing probably 4 feet away from him and looked at him and said "Why don't you like me" and as soon as she did that he jumped up at her barking like crazy. Luckily we were far enough away from her that he didn't get to her. She told me it didn't seem like he wanted to bite her...his teeth weren't showing or anything, he was just doing an aggressive bark. I was shocked that he reacted that way when she was wasn't even that close to him and she only looked at him.

The thing that kills me is sometimes I think he is ok with someone. He acts fine, and goes up to them. But then after 5 minutes he will start to act uncomfortable around them, but he doesn't move away, and then the growling starts. He's only lunged at this one friend, and it luckily has only happened that one time. But I feel like he's growling at more and more people and I just don't know what to do. I always tell guests to walk in like they're owning the space and to completely ignore him, and then I have them throw treats to him while still ignoring him. That seems to help a little.

I really need some help. He's never tried to bite anyone, but I'm afraid if something doesn't get done he will. I don't understand why he growls at certain people. He's done to men, women, tall, short, wearing heavy clothes, wearing summer clothes, hats, no hats. And I don't know if it's a fear thing, or a dominance thing, or a mixture. I know it's hard to diagnose it without seeing it, but if anyone has any suggestions I'd appreciate it. Sorry for the long post...

[cosraq]

He smells fear and the ones who doesn't like him.
You can try to reward him every time he is friendly with someone new and keep doing this until he learns friendship. Use treats, saying "good boy" or everything else you use to reward him.
Hope it will work. Good luck.

[Lara's mom]

"Smells fear:" Baloney!!! I am so sick of people using every excuse in the book to excuse what is simply BAD behaviour. Especially with that particular breed, you had better be very careful and muzzle that dog. Not too long ago, I was out with my little 14 pound dog. An idiot owner didn't have their pitbull muzzled and leased as is the law here. The vcicious b$%&*%d ran toward my little girl who was minding her own business and playing with a toy. Thankfully, I got there in time and kicked the s.o.b. and sent it flying. It gave me sufficient time to grab my dog and call animal control. For a change, the police and animal control showed up before the owner could slink away like a snake in the grass. Now, she can explain to the court why she felt the law didn't apply to her.

[cosraq]

Lara you had a bad experience, but this is not a reason to be such full of resentments. A dog lover loves ALL dogs, not just his own. My dog was bitten by another dog and I took care of him for 3 weeks. And i don't hate the dog that bitten him. I ran into that dog after a few months and I cannot say i hate him. I am a dog lover and i love them all.
And here you didn't post a solution, you just spoke about other situation.
Give a solution please, not another problem.