Stranger anxiety in dogs
February 3, 2009 carolynchoo
We know that the young child will go through a time when he or she is extremely wary of strangers. It is interesting to see this same phenomenon in Summer too. When we took her back in Dec, she seemed quite happy in the company of humans. We first met her at a year end gathering at my brother in law’s. There were perhaps around 30 of us there and she was extremely comfortable with the crowd.
Over the past few weeks with us, we have noted that she does not take too well to people outside of the family. When our neighbour who loves dogs (Mae dotes on him) comes over and tries to make contact with her, she growls at him. And just the other day, there was this deep almost adult bark from here. Most times, we still hear the chipmunk yelps, especially in the morning as she seeks to reenter the house. However she is friendlier to children and would allow the young ones to pat her on the head.
The past Saturday we had a CNY gathering at our place for the relatives. Mae as usual lapped in the attention showered on her. Summer was not friendly. She would not even take food from David, who gave her to us. Though at times, she would just forget herself, go just wild, and attack Mae who just gets horribly upset. They had to be tied up for a while in the kitchen until order was restored and the guests safe from dashing dogs. What a night.
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