Hello, I hope this is the right place for this! I have a pit mix puppy, she’s my first foster fail. I’ve had her since she was 2 weeks old and when it came time for her to be adopted out I couldn’t let her go and now she’s mine. She’s 4 months old and an absolute angel. So gentle and kind. She’s very smart and loves dogs, cats, horses, kids, everything! However, we are struggling with new adult people approaching us. When I am walking her on a trail or path and someone is walking towards us she will stop and growl, make a few low “ruff” sounds, and her hair begins to stand up. I usually walk her off to the side and crouch down with her as they walk past and she will calm down and continue walking. Yesterday, I took her to a pet store for the first time and of course many people asked to pet her. I allowed pets and seemingly so did she until she smelled them .. then she growls, hair raises, and she backs away. I comforted her and she calmed down and we went on our way. An employee approached and told her to sit and gave her a treat. She then was ecstatic to greet them and didn’t have any problems, she was even jumping on them and being very wiggle-butty which she usually doesn’t do in public. I don’t know how to properly handle this issue, hopefully someone has some insight! I don’t want this to manifest into her adulthood as she is seemingly going to be a larger pit mix and I just don’t want to scare anyone or have a large dog with this kind of behavior if it can be avoided.
submitted by /u/vandalismghost
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