Have not posted in a while....update

Hey everyone. I havent posted in a few months. Avary is now 13 months old. She is as beautiful and loving as ever. I have come to accept the fact that she is not a great dog with strangers and is very protective. If she knows you, she will not leave you alone and loves you to death, but she is protective. She will not let a stranger in the house. I have to actually put her in the bedroom, let the person in, have them sit on the couch and then let Avary out. I dont know if it tricks her or what, but then she runs out and jumps on them and acts like she has known them for years. Its weird. Has anyone ever heard of a dog acting like that.
The fact is though, I love her to death and wouldnt trade her for anything.

By the way, she is AMAZING with other dogs and animals. I have other dogs over the house all the time and she plays and plays, even with little annoying mini dachsunds and Jack Russells etc, hahaha.

 

People entering the house can be a very stressful time for dogs, especially if they're not completely secure in their rank, they may think it's their responsibility to keep intruders from invading. It sounds like you're doing ok in managing it, but I'd suggest (keeping in mind that A. I'm no expert, though I have had some experience with this and my personal dogs, and B. I'm not there to see what she's doing) that you start the Nothing in Life is Free of No Free Lunch program with her just to help her become more secure in your leadership. Obedience will also go a long way in this problem. With our door crazy dogs, I initially would put them up when guests would come, then let them out once everyone was settled. Once we had a solid enough obedience core, I began setting them up, with the guest being someone they knew, liked, and were used to seeing come and go. I calmly leashed them and put them in a sit or down/stay (away from the door, with their leash attached to something if I was afraid of them breaking the stay, laying a square of carpet down as "their welcome mat" to stay on can help them learn this behavior as well) when the guest arrived, and answered the door. If the dog stayed, I'd give them a treat, and leave them in the stay while the guests got situated, then let them greet. This way the situation was taken out of their hands, and it was clearly MY responsibility. Once they learn that guests coming to the door (with your "special" planned guests, I'd still put them up if unexpected guests arrived) are something for me to deal with, I progressed to less familiar guests coming, and finally to anyone coming anytime. Just remember that everytime you progress to a more difficult step, you have to go back to square one of the learning process, while the dog learns that things are the same as before... they don't generalize well. Obviously, you shouldn't do this if you're afraid she'll bite someone, but if she's just unsure or overly excited, this may help. It wouldn't be a bad idea to contact a trainer or behaviorist either, as they can see her behavior personally and better help you deal with it. How is she out in public with strangers?

Soudns like you're lucky on her loving other dogs, but remember, she's still just a pup, and her tolerance level could start to decrease as she matures. Just keep an eye out.