Incident with my Lab today.

While the leg could be a factor, it's more likely his age. He's about the right age for protectiveness to show up.


I agree. However, the waving of the clipboard was a perceived threat. Dogs can't tell the difference between a real threat and a perceived threat. There's a reason a helper goes through certain behaviors to turn a dog on or off.

Without having been there, it's impossible to know how the incident started. Eddie may have been going over to say hello, tail wagging, tongue hanging out, maybe some barking out of excitement. Then the UPS guy who sees a charging dog and doesn't know how to read dogs gets worried and waves a clipboard. Eddie takes that as a threat and becomes defensive.

I agree that you should have more strangers over and teach him what is acceptable. If he approached out of excitement to meet a new person, you have less to worry about, but it's still unacceptable. Not everyone can read dogs, not everyone wants a dog to come over and meet them, and delivery people may be quick to assume they're going to get bitten.

The scenario with the drunk people shows that Eddie will act proactively to protect you. He didn't make any attempt to bite, which is good (maybe).

Anyone curious of how this ended up even though it's from 2008?

Eddie is fear aggressive when it comes to strangers and has been since this incident.

It's taken A LOT of work but he is now to the point that he can be safely let out with strangers and be trusted to not attempt to bite. He will merely try to stay away from them/avoid them.

It's pure fear on his part. If someone he doesn't know walks directly toward him, he will put on an aggressive display while trying to find an escape route. If a stranger comes over (that we've planned) they're instructed to not walk directly toward him but to rather veer around him and not make eye contact. Eventually, Eddie will gain enough confidence to timidly greet them on his own. Once that initial greet is over, he is 100% fine.

We still work on this but it came apparent over time that this is something that we'd have to largely manage. Unless it's setup, he is always crated if someone comes to our house. Depending on how he reacts, he may or may not be let out of his crate. Strangers are encouraged to feed him yummy treats, although Eddie will not always accept them.

Eddie has recently, in the last year or so, learned what "IT'S OK" means. In all the times he's been trialed on it (3x), he has come back to me and has been fine.

Something happened to him on that day and I don't know what it was, but it was something. It was something significant enough to destroy any trust he had in someone he has never met before. Before this happened, he'd happily walk strangers to the front door of the house without a single bark.

Although, he's made great strides, he is still a dog that we will admit CAN react aggressively.

We try to change his outlook when it comes to strangers but because of the risk, we do largely just manage it.

It is what it is but we still love and value him regardless.

Molly and King love the normal UPS guy and the mailwoman, and all the other people who come to the house. The last people he got upset about were the Mormon missionaries who came to the door a couple months ago. One of them was fine, but the older one got the glare from both of them, and Molly was very nervous until I closed the door, gulping repeatedly and licking her lips. King growled at him and stood up and slammed himself onto the screen door. If they react to someone like the OP's dog did, I wouldn't really be concerned about something being wrong with the dog(s), I would think there was something wrong with the person that made them act like that. There is a guy I know, an odd old man, that almost all dogs HATE. I don't think he is some mad killer or anything like that, he moves strangely and even dogs that are normally "I love everyone!" dogs want to attack him. A while back, King was with me, and I went to the bank to make a deposit and pay my safety deposit box for the year. I was writing a check before I went into the drive through line, and was at least 150 feet from the front door. The guy who dogs hate comes out of the bank, and King instantly recognized him, even though he's 13+ and has pretty bad cataracts, and he went ballistic. He hadn't seen him in at least 3 years, since the old guy moved to Arizona. He saw and recognized King and came over to talk for a minute and King was trying to get to him the entire time. As he always says, "I don't know why dogs don't like me!". It's way beyond not liking him.

Thanks so much for the update! It sounds like you have things figured out and are taking good care of Eddie.

I have to wonder what really happened that day, something you didn't get to see, obviously . . . Strange and disturbing, especially for Eddie!

By the way . . . got any new pics?

Absolutely! This was just taken a few weeks ago!



Ratboy...Eddie reacts...negatively toward ANYONE he meets. If he's given space and not directly approached, he will keep his distance. The danger with him is that if someone isn't dog savvy and just keep walking toward him...its a potential bite risk.

Although, like I said, it has gotten better over time but he can still never be trusted completely.

I have always loved their expressions <3 Eddie looks like he's wondering about what's next, and Uallis looks like he's WORRYING about what's next