Is this agressive behaviour??

Something very strange and out of character happened today....

Brother in law, his girlfriend and their 2 year old son called round to drop Easter eggs off for the kids. They've never seen the pup before, and when they came in he was in his bed eating a pigs ear. Brother in law went straight over to see Raiden, while his girlfriend and their son just completely ignored him. As soon as brother in law got near to the bed, Raiden gave a very low growl, so brother in law backed off and went to sit down. I went straight over to Raiden as soon as he growled and told him off and took the pigs ear away.

He has never ever done anything like this before. Me, husband and the kids (who are only little, eldest is 4) can take anything off him, and frequently do. My parents can also take food and toys from him without him batting an eyelid!!

Why do you think he did this? Is it because he didn't know brother in law and thought he was going to take the pigs ear from him? What could I have done to prevent it? Have to say, he wouldn't go anywhere near brother in law the whole time he was here, but did go to see his girlfriend and their son and was really gentle with them.

Thanks for reading if you got this far..... Didn't expect it to be such a long post, lol.

This is a classic case of two things,

1) Always let a dog you dont know come and see you first and let them sniff you for a while and do not disturb this process by stroking or talking to them, once they have sniffed you they will know all about you.

2) He is defending the pigs ear as he doesn't know your brother in law

To me he did nothing wrong and was being told off just for defending his food from a stranger, my suggestion would be that you instruct new people that come in the house to ignore him and let him get to know them first.

The brother in law has lost his trust from the start, if he follows what I said the next time he comes then after a visit or 2 your dog will be fine with him as long as the brother in law is not scared or him or gets too excited or macho and just remains calm.

To add.....

In answers to your question, no it isn't aggression as such, but communication.

It was the humans that made the mistake here not the dog, albeit I know unintentionally.

Its the only way we learn from our mistakes, so your not alone and its really not a big issue in my view.

I did wonder as Raiden was fine with the others who just completely ignored him when they came in. I feel bad now as I shouldn't have told him off for the growl but it completely took me by surprise and I didn't want him getting the idea that it was acceptable to growl over food. Will have to make it up to him with a nice juicy bone I think....

Thanks for your suggestion, I will definately tell strangers to ignore him in the future until he comes to them.

Dont feel bad, you just made a mistake thats all, we have all done it....

Raiden would have let it go by now as you saw he was fine with the others as they let him get to know them first....so you can see the difference!

I'm sure he will love a nice juicy bone, if it makes you feel better as well....all is good.....