I have a six month old female standard poodle, Josie. Well-bred, well-socialized, good manners. I think she is entering her adolescent fear period, which is maybe relevant–some things outside our home have been startling her that haven't before, such as loud trucks on walks. We have three cats and she takes correction from them perfectly. She plays with the neighbor dog, a retired show lab breeding mom, and she takes the lab's very gentle corrections well too. Immediate back off, lay down, occasionally belly up, to both the lab and the cats.
My parents just adopted a 3 year old Boston terrier/Chihuahua mix (mostly–they did Embark and he's 35% each of those, plus a bit of Aussie, daschund, and "supermutt."), Russell. He was surrendered to the shelter by a family who said they had 3 kids, 3 other dogs, and 4 cats and he wouldn't stop pooping in the house.
Russell has been with them 3 weeks and is mostly a very calm, lazy dog. He has not had any accidents inside. Two incident prior to today made me a bit wary. First, my 7-year old was rubbing his belly and ended up near a tender spot (skin infection from the kennel, they later found out). I saw whale eye for about two seconds and as I was telling her to stop and move, he lifted his lip at her. That was it. She moved, incident over, seemed to me like appropriate warning signs for a dog who didn't feel well.
That night after we left, my dad startled him from sleep and he went after my parents' cat who was right there. Listened and stopped when my dad yelled. Other than these two things, he has seemed very chill.
Today I brought Josie over for the first time. In restrospect, I realize that I did two things wrong–i should not have brought my kids and we should have met on neutral territory. We all just assumed he'd be chill as usual, he'd issue normal warnings/corrections as needed to Josie, she'd listen as she always does, and that would be that.
We had them meet in my parents' fenced back yard, off leash. I think Josie did everything right. Stood back, tail wagging and ears forward, let him approach, let him sniff her. He allowed her to sniff him back for a moment and as she started to play bow, I saw him stiffen and he lunged at her. She immediately retreated, tail between her legs, and he chased her, growling and snapping. She ended up on a patio chair (higher than him) and he stayed below and would growl and lunge/snap any time she moved.
My mom then leashed him and I took Josie farther away in the yard so he could just watch her for a bit. He went back and forth between what appeared relaxed watching vs vigilant staring. He would growl and lunge if she got within about ten feet.
Notably, he never actually bit her. He seemed more anxious than like he was picking a fight. Lots of panting.
My primary two concerns are 1. He didn't let up when Josie submitted and listened to his corrections. She was not pestering him or being annoying puppy in any way. The over-correction worries me 2. He was moderately better when I asked me mom to go inside and have my dad hold him. He has chosen my mom as his person and I wonder how much of this is him resource guarding my mom
Mostly I am worried about what this means for my kids. It's very easy to just not bring Josie to visit my parents, but they take a kid for a sleepover once a week. They behave well around dogs, and my parents do supervise, but my mom can be a little rose colored glasses and if this is a dog that overcorrects and guards her, are we looking at a situation where she's going to supervise as he bites one of my kids? She didn't notice the whale eye before he raised his lip to my daughter. Because I did, daughter was already stopping petting when he showed his teeth, but what if she hadn't been?
Idk, I just can't decide if I am being overprotective and overreacting or if I am right that these are red flags to be seriously concerned about. Especially given the surrender situation–its clear he doesn't actually have housebreaking problems, so I worry he was surrendered because he bit a kid.
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