# Weird Experience...



## KashagLake (Sep 27, 2010)

Last night Holly and I were hanging on the couch, my bf was out fishing with some friends.

One of his friends came in earlier off the ice with his son, his son knocked on the door and came in for a bit while his dad loaded the four wheeler in the truck. His son, myself and Holly were having a little play. (This is the first time Holly has met either of them)

The boys dad came through the door and Holly was acting very unusual with him!! I've never seen her this way before! 

Holly is overly friendly and very social! She always wants to meet everyone and know whats going on around her. But as soon as he came through that door she wouldn't go anywhere near him! She was very cowardly, and kept hiding behind my legs, with her ears down and tail between her legs. I even gave him a treat to give to her and she still wouldn't come close! It's like she was very frightened of him, but she has no reason to be? She's met lots of different men before and has never had this reaction!! Do you guys think she's picking up a bad vibe or something? My bf said maybe it was because I was home alone without him there and there was another man there? I'm not sure, has anyone else's V's been this way?


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## Macaroni (Jan 19, 2011)

When visiting one of the breeder's (didn't get out V from them), this happened w/ on of their V's. The V was approx 6 weeks pregnant. While we were there touring their property and visiting their dogs/some pups, a gentleman was also on the premises w/ one of the kennel owners (this kennel also provided gun dog training - large farm property) and he arrived w/ his GSP which he had gotten there to do some training w/ his dog. While we were visiting w/ the pregnant V, he walked up w/ the Kennel owners husband and the dog acted the same way. The kennel owner said it was the first time she had ever seen the dog act this way towards anyone...much the same as you described. 

By what the Kennel owner said, it sounds like you did the right thing in supplying treats etc, (as she did), howeve rit could just have been a smell or something that threw your V off or spooked her, or maybe he was just giving off a bad vibe at the time....I'm sure if they met again it would be a different result. I wouldn't worry too much about it unless it starts happening on a more regular basis.


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## clover (Jul 5, 2010)

How old is your puppy? Dgos go through a second fear stage around 6-14 months old (I think, don't quote me) and so this could be the reason for that perhaps??


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## KashagLake (Sep 27, 2010)

Shes 5months... I just found it really weird, she was around other people guys and girls later last night and no fear at all, we even went for a walk earlier that day there were dogs around and lots of people and she was happy and wanted to say hi to everyone...it was just him...something she didn't like about him I guess? He might be over again tonight so we'll have to see what her response is.


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## clover (Jul 5, 2010)

It definitely will be interesting to see how she reacts tonight. It really could just be a smell or movement he made that triggered a fear response. Maybe by tonight she will have forgotten all about it. Also, dogs do have preferences in people. I used to have a dog who had the complete opposite reaction about someone. She liked most people, but she met a man once who she seemed to absolutely adore. She crawled all over him and then fell asleep on his lap which was not a normal behaviour for her. I guess she just liked him or maybe he smelled really good!


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## Mercutio (Jan 18, 2010)

Let us know how it goes tonight....

Merc as a puppy seemed to love everyone - was always running up to people in the park tail wagging etc etc Until one day he ran up and barked at a man and every time this guy tried to move, Merc barked at him (Merc was about 18 months at the time). Eventually I managed to grab hold of Merc, had a very unpleasant conversation with the man and left. Whenever we saw him after that Merc would start barking again and I had to leash him and then I just stopped walking in that park. The odd thing though, is that we had seen that man from a distance previously and in my head I always thought of him as "creepy beanie man" to distinguish him from "friendly beanie man". I don't know if Merc had picked up on my sub-conscious thoughts, the fact that the man did NOT like dogs or whether Merc just didn't like the way he looked. It was a downhill slide with strangers from then on and although I've managed to improve Merc's attitude towards strangers somewhat from a year ago I just don't trust him anymore 

Hopefully it was just an odd one-off thing with Holly!


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## sarahaf (Aug 17, 2009)

Merc, sorry for your experiences, but thanks for making me feel better. I always feel like the only one with the oddly aggressive vizsla. It's very embarrassing. People think you're a bad dog owner (and there's a grain of truth to that, in that we didn't socialize her as well as we should have with children as a pup). But I really think a lot of it is how genetically high strung or fearful your dog is. That isn't to say that you don't have an obligation to try to address the behavior once it develops. But none of our other dogs acted this way, so it can't all be our bad job raising dogs that caused it. And yes, Rosie seems very attuned to body language and I've started to get to where I can tell who she'll react to from a distance away (uh-oh, person with hat standing stock still...uh-oh, eratically moving child...just something about that person & I think it'll happen, etc). And yeah, with Rosie too, it started around 6 months. Before that she loved everyone.


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## clover (Jul 5, 2010)

I should have mentioned in my last post that the dog I was refering to, while she liked most people, did not like most dogs. She got really nervous and was not confident at all at the dog park in general, and would be overreactive to some dogs (who knows why) and I usually felt the same way you just described yourself feeling.

It seems to me that after 6 months there are just some fear responses in dogs you cannot prevent from occuring and you're obviously doing your best to deal with it in the most appropriate way


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## KashagLake (Sep 27, 2010)

Hey guys...he didn't come over last night. But Chuck had some other guys at the house and she was fine! So I'll post next time shes around him! I'm anxious to see her reaction!


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