Afraid Of Men

[Ronda]

My 7 month old whippet, Joey, seems to be afraid of guys. He literately pissed him self, while growling, barking and running away, when my uncle walked in the door at my grandmothers house. Whats confusing me though is that Joey has met my uncle on at least three other occasions, even taken treats from him. And Joey growled at my neighbor the other day. Ive never seen him act like this towards a woman, only men. :confused:

[Chris the Rebel Wolf]

My 7 month old whippet, Joey, seems to be afraid of guys. He literately pissed him self, while growling, barking and running away, when my uncle walked in the door at my grandmothers house. Whats confusing me though is that Joey has met my uncle on at least three other occasions, even taken treats from him. And Joey growled at my neighbor the other day. Ive never seen him act like this towards a woman, only men. :confused:

Hi Ronda, sorry to hear your whippet is having some issues. I'm sure they can be worked through with a little time and patience. Can I ask was anything different about your uncle - had he cut off all his hair, was he wearing a hat, or strong smelling deodorant, or had he grown facial hair? Sometimes a chance like that can unsettle a dog. It's a bit concerning he growled at your neighbour as well. A health checkup would be beneficial, Joey may perhaps be having some vision troubles that is making him more fearful/nervous than usual. Have you done much socialzation with him as a puppy? How does he usually react to new people?

Edited September 22, 2011 by Chris the Rebel Wolf

[sheena]

He might be going through his second fear period. My nearly 7 month old BC pup is going through this at the moment. Fortunately not a lot scares him, but certain people do especially if they are sitting in the shade/hats/ sunglasses etc & he can't really recognize them as "people" in his mind.

[Ronda]

Thanks for the responses, sheena, that's what i am starting to think. I take him to obedience training on Saturdays and he has no problems with the guys there. His usual reaction towards new people is to get all excited and try to jump on them or smell them. I think my uncle may have been wearing a beanie and my neighbor has a mustache. He seemed offended when joey growled at him. Joey seems to have something against my uncle though. One minute hes fine to take treats / be patted next thing hes backed off and growling / barking. and this is while we are at my uncles place too. Could it be because my uncle has a dog? Joey can smell his dog on him?

[sheena]

Thanks for the responses, sheena, that's what i am starting to think. I take him to obedience training on Saturdays and he has no problems with the guys there. His usual reaction towards new people is to get all excited and try to jump on them or smell them. I think my uncle may have been wearing a beanie and my neighbor has a mustache. He seemed offended when joey growled at him. Joey seems to have something against my uncle though. One minute hes fine to take treats / be patted next thing hes backed off and growling / barking. and this is while we are at my uncles place too. Could it be because my uncle has a dog? Joey can smell his dog on him?

We have one man (brother in law) who loves dogs, but he gets them really riled up & while my older BC will jump all over him, because, to a dog, he is excitement plus, Cricket stands his distance & barks at him (about the only time I ever hear him bark) & I am sure it is to do with some sort of vibrations given off by Chris. Maybe your Uncle gives off some sort of vibes when he arrives & dogs are very sensitive to vibes...something we just cannot even start to understand.

[Sandy46]

Dogs operate and communicate mainly via body language, sights hounds are especially sensitive to stance, a male will often raise himself to full height and put his shoulders back and make direct eye contact when confronting a dog he does not know or like, this may have been the case with your neighbor he may have inadvertently shown a stance the dog saw as aggressive, the dog will then react defensively by warning with a bark, if the dog is small and young then the other reactions by him fit. Since there is no problem at training then there is a good chance that it was either a body language (stance ) problem or a challenge to fight ( eye contact ) that caused the reaction. If the two incidents happened close together there may have been a carryover from the first to the second. Fear reactions have causes it is a matter of finding what the cause is, dogs actually pay more attention to stance than to small changes like beanies, beards or glasses. Flapping coats may cause a fear reaction but most people usually remove coats when they come into a house so I am guessing that is not the cause. If your uncle turns his back to the dog and does not make eye contact the dog will most likely check him out and seeing no threat return to accepting treats.

[mumtoshelley]

Shelley my female golden retriever hates people that are wearing anything on there heads. She will growl,bark and stand up really tall. Were not sure why she hates people wearing things on there head but we just tell her stop it and continue walking.