# Penny - my protector



## CrazyCash (Jul 12, 2012)

Penny and I are going to obedience school and it's outside at the fairgrounds. Tonight we were in class and in the middle of class a man came walking up behind me wearing a hat and he stopped and was standing about 5 feet behind me. I wasn't paying any attention to him, but Penny turned around, took one look at him and then positioned herself between him and me, crouched down and started a low growl. I've never seen her do this before, but she definitely didn't want him near us. I told her to "leave it" and tried to get her to turn back around and face front. She wouldn't stop staring at him and then she just started barking at him. I had to walk away from him, but she kept an eye on him. The rest of class, if we were walking around and got anywhere near him, the hair would go up on her back and she would growl. I'm not sure what it was about him that she didn't like, I'm thinking it was maybe because he was wearing a hat. I couldn't get her to stop doing it, but I didn't want to make it into a big deal because something about him was obviously bothering her and since she's a rescue I'm not sure if maybe she's had a bad experience in the past with a man in a hat. I guess I'll just have to take her around other men and see what her reaction is.


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## harrigab (Aug 21, 2011)

When Ruby is on her lead she goes into protective mode,,,she will not tolerate strangers approaching us to the point where if I'm going somewhere and a lot of crowds are likely to be present I'll put a soft muzzle on her. Off lead she's fine, and I've often wondered wether it's a fear aggression issue she has. Yet when we're in a hunting environment and I clip her lead on other hunters can approach and stroke her with no such problems,,,,strange.


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## mswhipple (Mar 7, 2011)

You might have to practice extra socialization with Penny on this issue. You could ask a friend or two to drop by wearing a hat, with treats in hand... It's possible that she had just never seen that before.

This week I had two separate appointments with contractors who were coming over to do work in my house. Willie is always pretty calm and friendly, but he does position himself directly between me and the stranger, and holds that position. I really don't mind that at all. He's a pretty big boy, and might make anyone with bad intentions think twice.


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## Rudy (Oct 12, 2012)

Penney was fine

like most Men He was a stinker  lol

and did not powder da' $ss ;D

She smelt it she flared it

all real men must be clean tight and right 

and his hat sucked baseball cap or cowboy only 

then them girls coming licking for miles :-*


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