Hi, all - we have had our 3 yo girl for three weeks now and we think she's done an amazing job fresh off the track. She's on a routine, gets along with our smaller dog and is OK when we leave the house. We go on walks every day, and lots of people want to say hi. She is still hesitant towards other people petting her or getting too close. Sudden noises from cars or other dogs make her jump at times. She doesn't like being approached by a jogger or biker. This was all to be expected and I just pat her, tell her "it's ok" and we keep going. We have had two human friends come to visit since we got her - the first friend, a female, came a week after we had her. She barked a few times, not aggressively, and did not go right up to her but she was interested. We gave her a few treats from my friend's hand and in a while she was laying in the grass with us getting pets from my friend. Enter our second friend a few days later, a male, whom she first met out on a walk in the neighborhood. She stood barking at him frequently, also not aggressively but not in a way that you want to approach the dog and try to pet her. We gave him a few treats to hold and she came up to take them, but didn't really want pets. After that she was fine. I was gone yesterday, but my partner was home. The same male friend came over for a bit and apparently as he came in, our girl started barking, growling, AND showing her teeth! My partner says it was a lot to calm her down and get her to go lay down, and our friend was nervous since she is big and has jumped up in excitement a few times.
Obviously we want to control this and discontinue it ASAP. I wish I had been home, because I keep a spray bottle of water to use on her. My partner used a firm voice, but I think a spray would have been helpful too, which he didn't have on him. I reached out to the foster family who kept her for the first week as she still had her stitches in and they helped her adjust to a home/stairs, etc. The foster family had people over and never had any problems.
We hope we aren't doing anything that has led to this behavior - we don't have people over very often, but we almost always walk by others on our walks. She is getting better at just walking by someone else. A note about our smaller dog- he is not good with strangers, so he is often kept in a separate room where he whines but is otherwise fine when people are over. He knows our male friend and is OK with him. We wondered if she was possibly picking up on any of his tension.
Any ideas/suggestions are most welcome!!
Thank you!