Apologies for this long one but I’m looking for some thoughts.
A close friend of my partner and me has just relocated to our country from his. He moved here about a month ago. Due the annoying situation in our country, you need a job to rent a house and a house to get a job. It’s designed to stop immigrants basically. I hate it, but it’s the way it is. So we thought we’d help our friend out and offer him a place to stay (with his dog) whilst he looks for work over here. Let’s call our friend Leo.
His dog is LOVELY. Very sweet cuddly boy who really does nothing wrong as such, but as all dogs do he has a few flaws. Eg he jumps up at you when you’re holding ANY food and he doesn’t listen to commands too well. But honestly that’s not bad as far as dogs go; he’s an angel. I love him. And he NEVER barks, but whines an awful lot due to separation anxiety. Let’s call this dog Alfie.
My dog is also an angel, practically perfect except for the barking. She barks and barks and barks. At anything that moves, and more if she’s in a bad mood. It’s annoying but not vicious and she’s NEVER aggressive. We kinda learned to live with it but I get it’s unusual for our friend as his dog never barks. That’s my dog’s only flaw. Let’s call my dog Nina.
Well Leo and I have VERY different training views. He believes in smacking and grabbing his dog by the back of the neck for the SLIGHTEST thing wrong. It really upsets me, and he knows that. There have been times where Alfie has been playing up for me and Leo has asked me to smack Alfie. I refuse and calmly sort out the problem with reassurance and positive training. It always works. I have also made it very clear that if Leo ever lays a finger on Nina that he’s kicked out of my house.
Now Nina has been barking a lot more recently - not surprising since there’s another dog and human in her house and she’s in heat so she’s a moody madam anyway. But I’ve been ill with the flu for the past 3 days and haven’t left my bed other than to shuffle to the bathroom a few times a day. I haven’t even been able to go downstairs. So I’ve been relying on my partner and Leo to look after both Alfie and Nina for me. I realised today that they haven’t been walked since I fell ill and Nina has spent most of her days in her crate which I’m not best pleased about, but my partner had been at work so Wasn’t there - thus I can’t blame him really.
Today I finally got the energy to go downstairs and see my little fluff ball. I was met with a doggo who was fine with me but acting extremely aggressive to the boys, snarling at them, which is SO out of character for her. Every time I stroked her neck she growled and whipped her head round to my face, and then licked me - it seemed as though she wanted to bite but couldn’t bring herself to do so to me so licked me instead. It was.... weird. She normally loves neck strokes.
I spent some time with her, desensitising her neck again. Stroking it and treating her until she stopped growling when I stroked it. I got her completely calm and back to normal, until Leo walked in. Then all hell broke lose and she was snarling and barking at him something awful. However, I watched her the whole time and she DID NOT go to bite Leo. Suddenly Leo snapped back and shouted at Nina saying “if you bite me it will not end well for you!” Then he turned to me and shouted “you need to get her some training”.
I was livid. Firstly do NOT threaten my baby, EVER. Secondly, how dare you suggest MY dog needs training when yours isn’t perfect?! I have never once complained when Alfie broke the skin on my fingers my ripping a treat out of my hand - just corrected him kindly (which worked).
Anyway my partner had a long chat about it with Leo and basically told him if he doesn’t like how we live, he doesn’t have to live with us. Leo told my partner that Nina has no discipline and basically implied we should treat her the way he treats Alfie (obviously we never would).
It’s worth noting that Nina is very disciplined in everything but the barking, she’s a border collie and obviously very smart. I have had nothing but compliments on her from everyone, and she’s the sweetest little fluff bug you could ever meet.
My thinking is that whilst I’ve been bed ridden, something has happened. Maybe he picked her up my the scruff of the neck and it hurt her? Or maybe it’s her seeing the way that Leo treats Alfie that has made her aggressive to Leo? (Nina loves Alfie) I don’t know but I no longer trust Leo with Nina alone, and am looking into daycare for her whilst I’m at work.
I really hope this hasn’t turned her into an aggressive dog though :( I’ve genuinely never seen her act the way she did tonight which makes me think something MUST have happened. I just can’t prove a thing.
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/isa02r/friend_isnt_nice_to_my_dog/
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