New nervous behaviour

[Wes]

Sampson's developed an odd fear of my boyfriend (and random other people, though all strangers) over the past three-ish weeks. Most of the time, he's fine though somewhat aloof with strangers, but lately he's been pressing up against my legs, ears go back, and he's been showing his teeth. Only some slight growling, which I have not corrected him for, mostly just the leaning and teeth showing. I keep him away from strangers to manage it, crossing to the other side of the street when I can and using the "he has a contagious skin condition!" excuse when folks wish to pet him. It's his behaviour around my boyfriend that really has me stumped though, as I can come home to find Sampson's head in A's lap and other times A can walk into the room and Sampson will show his teeth.

There's really no pattern to whom he seems to be wary of - at first I thought it was tall men as I'm rather short and my boyfriend is over six feet, but he was also iffy with my coworker who is all of 5 feet and female! Voice seems to have no pattern either, as I have quite a deep voice and Sampson is fine with both me and my father.

He's about a year and half old now, entire, fed Blue Buffalo wilderness with a few raw veggies mixed in. Gets walked twice a day for about a half hour each time and goes to doggie daycare four days a week. The days he does not go to daycare, either myself or my boyfriend come home for a third half hour walk. My walks with him are more jogs (I'm getting in shape for a 5K race), whereas my partner's are more meandering walks. Nothing's happened to him recently that I've been aware of, and this behaviour seems very out of the blue. He's known my boyfriend for close to a year now and we moved in together two months ago and has seemingly settled in fine.

I can avoid strangers no problem until he can let his stress levels go down, and I've had A take a few steps back with Sampson and let me do his feeding and walking, but I'm confused as to where to go from here. I certainly don't want it to escalate, and I want to make sure Sampson is comfortable with my boyfriend. Maybe stop him from going to daycare for a bit too? Any advice would be wonderful - it's really the only issue I've had with Sam since I adopted him.

[JudyN]

I think the first step with any sudden unexplained change in behaviour should be a full vet check.

[Noobs]

At 1 1/2 years he's at what I believe is his last fear stage.

If you can avoid doggy day care for now, it might be a good idea. You never know if it's something there that's setting him off. And if you come home for lunch and he's kept busy at home while you're at work the rest of the time, it might actually be better for him - the quiet time as opposed to a rowdy place like doggy day care.

Good for you for not punishing the growl. Try to avoid punishing the snarl (teeth) as well and just walk away or change the subject when he does that. The snarl is the step up from the growl, and both are telling you something is bothering him. I realize that you didn't say you were punishing the snarl - but you said you weren't punishing the growl and didn't clarify on the rest, so I wanted to say that just in case.

How you handle this now is very important, I know you've been around here for a long time so you already have a lot of really good knowledge. My Murphy always had trouble after his so-called "final" fear stage at 18 months because I did a lot of things wrong. I was just discovering this board during that time so I ended up doing right by him eventually but I fear that doing things wrong during that period made him "unfixable" to a degree. We finally had to rehome him when he was 4 years old after my partner and I had a baby. He was a much better dog than when we first got him but still had a host of problems that were unsurmountable in our situation. I am still heartbroken and I hope that my experience can help as a cautionary tale for others.

[Wes]

Thanks, folks. I've booked him for a full vet check next week; crossing my fingers that all is well medically. Rosie was so difficult with her medical issues, I don't know what I'd do if Sampson had them as well.

Cancelled doggy daycare for the next month. The woman who runs it is a good friend of mine, so I'm sure she's say if it were happening there, but you never know. And yes, Noobs, I haven't punished the snarl, I've just been body blocking him and pushing him away when he does it outside and trying to redirect his attention off of A when he does it at home. All happy voices and A has the good sense to look away and back up.

Hugs to you as well, Noobs, for going through such an emotional roller coaster ride. Hope all is going well (or at least better)!