4 Month Bullie pup nervous, growling at strangers ?

Greenwood

Hello,

Recently my puppy ( boy ) 18 weeks has started growing at people when out on walks, he seems ok with other dogs but when people approach him to greet him his body tenses and he growls and barks. It does not look good at all, my understanding is that this is developmental stage and is common.

Has anyone else had has similar problem, how did you deal with it ?

Reply would be appreciated.

BulliesofNC

Puppies often grow out of weird habits and bad behavior as they mature. But it's always good to train them early and let them know when their behavior is unwarranted.

A stern "No!" will get their attention and quickly divert the dog's attention elsewhere. The more you socialize your Bull Terrier the better he'll become and in due time he'll most likely get over excited when he sees new people which is a common behavior shared among the breed.

Greenwood

@BulliesofNC

Thanks for your reply, the stern no sound good. As this is reccent behaviour I was ignoring it, did not want to do anything that reinforced the behaviour. I've just noticed his bottom front two baby teeth are now missing, so he's not been feeling that great and he also has a bit of conjunctivitis in his right eye.

He's a great pup and fantastic with the family and my two young children.

Brooklyn

I agree with @BulliesofNC - it's always good to train them earlier and socialize, socialize, socialize... It will be more difficult to train old habit out.
We have a very similar problem, our bully is suspicious of strangers so we introduce people gradually and never let strangers pet him. I might be wrong but I believe that similar to people dogs don't have to like every human they meet BUT they should not show aggressive behavior toward them. Sometimes it is too much to bear for suspicious or timid dog when the stranger approaches him, briefly shove their hand or fist under their nose (to sniff) and touches their head or neck for petting while baby-talking in a high-pitched voice. Imagine total stranger would approach you, shake your hand and start douching your face and clothes while talking some nonsense? You'd either step back and ask what's going on or just push him away. I don't think many of us would be "happily wagging the tails". We train our bully to ignore strangers unless they enter his personal space. And it's our job to make sure no one does that without permission. When I see him fixing his eyes on someone, I slightly jerk the leash for attention and tell him "No, mind your business". It works most of the time.

Greenwood

@Brooklyn Totally agree with everything you mentioned. Was speaking to another dog walker this morning and he mentioned that strangers approaching with arm held out can be perceived as a sign of human aggression by dogs. He mentioned better approach was to keep distance and kneel down and greet dog. Covid and winter dark evenings has definitely made it a bit harder to socialize him as not many folk around as normal.
The schools have closed here temporary in the UK, before closure, and before he had his last vaccination I would carry him down to the school with my youngest and he seemed to enjoy seeing the other kids.

Appreciate your reply and thanks.

lovely_jdw

Training Moscow it took a lot of positive reinforcement. Be sure to reward those good behaviors because thats gonna set the stern training off! He will understand yes and no so well!