Supposedly ~1000 new homes coming in the next three years. I'm not paying for the indo, are these all mixed or does this include the 200+ 'exclusive' rental only homes coming to the north circular road?
I got a dog from a county pound 2 weeks ago. Middle aged terrier mix. He was abandoned so we have no history on him. Our household is myself, my partner, our chi mix and now this little guy too.
He is bossy, demanding and not shy about vocalisations including growling. He has some behavioural issues (bullet points below) which I was hoping would improve as he settles in and what doesn't I can work on with him. However he bit my partner yesterday (context below) and I'm now worried about these behaviours becoming harder to manage and harder to train out with time or that the dog may already have ingrained patterns of behaviour that make him a bite risk or that he has a bite history we don't know about.
Considering the 3/3/3 rule with rescues, should I wait it out and give him a chance to settle in or should I go straight to a behaviouralist now?
Current issues
• Reactivity to knocks at the door
• Barking and aggressive posturing when visitors come to the house. Barks and runs at them, sniffs their shoes then moves away and is friendly with them afterwards.
• Frequently nervous, whale eyeing, lip licking and tail tucking. Seems random, sometimes for no discernible reason or in situations that didn't bother him before, during petting that he initiates and reinitiates after a consent check when nervousness is noticed.
• Vocalisations that sound like light-hearted growls and barks with direct eye contact and tail wags when he wants something (food, walk, attention, to be followed to another room or to have a door opened for him). This might just be a quirk? But I don't want to negate this as a clue in building a picture of this dogs behaviour
• Nervous aggression when he feels trapped/cornered. Includes when crating, have been crating him by throwing treats to the back. Also growls and snarls if he is leaned over or bent towards when he is backed against something and lip licks if I bend down to pet him even if he was jumping up at me before hand.
• Resource guarding a bone, capped at snarling, redirected by me leaving the room which caused him to follow and someone else was able to remove the bone. Has not shown this behaviour with anything else, including food and treats which he has allowed me to take.
• Resource guarding comfort? I was lying on the couch with him on my stomach and he growled at me when I tried to move him to stand up. During this he continued growling and crawled towards my face when I turned my head away from him to try to reduce tension. My partner then walked into the room and he got off me to greet him. I'm worried about how this may have ended if not for the distraction of someone entering the room.
• Fear aggression to things going over his head, including hands during petting and taking his harness off after walking. He has stopped growling when taking his harness off but still seems very nervous. I'm trying to get him a step in harness but struggling with sizing because he has a barrel chest. No issue getting the harness on because he's super excited to go for a walk haha
The bite - Dunbar scale 3a
I was upstairs. Postman knocked. Heard dog barking, then growling then my partner yell.
Dog went to run towards front door barking, partner trapped him between his legs at the ribcage. This completely took the dogs attention away from the knock at the door which we have not successfully done before and the dog began to snarl and backed up. The dog was then cornered between a person, a wall and a mostly closed door and was still vocalising and showing teeth. My partner reached down to push dog back through hallway door, dog snapped and ran away back through the door. Partner closed hall door and we left the dog in there until wound was cleaned. When we returned he was very fearful towards my partner but cuddled up to me. Took no more than five minutes to be best friends with my partner again.
The bite occured during a moment of heightened arousal, the dog was trapped and reached towards and the bite was preceded by vocalisations and followed by fleeing. Although I didn't witness it my partner agrees that it was preventable and predictable and could have been avoided by him choosing a different reaction. For these reasons I am inclined to give the dog the benefit of the doubt and continue as normal, allowing him to settle into his new home. However, I'm a softy and would like some objective opinions.
Does this dog need a professional intervention immediately or does he just need time to settle in, de-stress and gain confidence?