Our 5 year old female Staffordshire terroir has been living in a house with my boyfriends mom/family and a big fenced off back yard. She was never properly socialized and has trouble trusting new people. (I met her when she was already three, otherwise I would have made damn sure to socialize her!!!) This weekend we took her to stay at our new house that we moved into a week ago. We wanted to get settled in, unpacked and cleaned up before bringing her to our new place. Our house is a 5 minute drive from her old place so she is still in a familiar area with a big yard, only difference is we don’t have a fence so we keep her on a leash and walk with her for a good while to do her business and give her exercise. (It has been hot as hell this past week so we have limited the walks and keep her hydrated and cool.

Our problem is the fact that we have a roommate. My boyfriends Cousin Tyler. He is a very quiet guy, about 5’’6. He pets her and sits beside her on the couch, and she gets friendly with him but still seems unsure. She will get close and lick him, and her tail will be wagging when he gives her his hand to sniff, but that excitement in her quickly turns defensive and she will start barking at him. She hasn’t bit him, or anyone ever for that matter, but I am afraid that there will be a first time and I want to avoid this as much as possible!

I told my boyfriend that Tyler needs to be more vocal with her, because he usually keeps quiet when she’s sniffing him. If he greeted her and expressed himself more, then she might ease up to him. We’ve tried having him hold treats and give it to her, but she still seems uneasy. We slept in the living room on the main floor last night (heat was unbearable upstairs) and in the morning when he comes down from his room, she will immediately get up and start barking, and her bark is LOUD. We woke up with a huge startle.

How do we get her to be less high-strung? She’s a great dog, a big princess with LOTS of energy. We try to burn that energy through out the day, but she still has the defensive stance, where she’s always ready for Tyler to come down the stairs or try to go outside, and her fur on her back will stand and then the low growl starts. We try to swap her attention and give her toys to her, or keep treats near by but we also want to be careful not to encourage bad behaviour.

Someone pleeeaassee have some kind of advice for us. We brought her into our home (even though she’s my boyfriends dog and we ... (more)