OH, Karlee, i am glad that you are NOT seeing any signs that Dazzle is beginning to show signs of aggression.
Still, you may want to consider helping Dazzle learn to think that she does NOT need to growl when ppl come to your door, and you may want to help Dazzle learn a better reaction than this:
//",so she stood there,hacles up,teeth beared,snarling and growling at them,when all they did............"//
which sounds to me like an inappropriately aggressive reaction.
The sooner you begin work on this,
the better the result will be.
Dogs who are aggressive often begin to be noticed at about 9 months old, and by 12 months old, are very very obvious, so do keep an eye on DAzzle for next 3 or 4 months.
If Dazzle doesn't often see many strangers,
or many unknown dogs, it
can take longer to become obvious. But
hopefully
, Dazzle really IS just fine.
But again, while working to get DAzzle to stop growling about ppl at the door,
remember
you never ever ever want to scold or punish Dazzle for growling.
If your parents are scolding or trying to shush DAzzle for growling, try to help them stop doing it, too. A dog who won't growl, who thinks his owners hate growling,
is a way more dangerous dog.
Hard to understand, but
you DO want Dazzle to feel free to give out her warning growl,
but you also want to help Dazzle to feel secure enough about people or dogs
that Dazzle becomes secure enough that she does not
feel the need to growl.
Let us know if you want help figuring out how to get Dazzle to sit calmly
without growling
when you open the door to strangers.
None of us here know everything, we all ask each other for help, this is why we are here.
So if you want help on this, let us know.
Dazzle growling does not mean she is being protective of you or loves you, it is Dazzle is afraid. NO doubt, Dazzle is indeed protective and loves you,
but her growling inappropriately is not how to tell.
You can help Dazzle learn to feel less threatened about strangers and other dogs.
<---That is often way harder to teach than agility, or tricks,
so if you are looking for a really big dog-training challenge,
this might be it.
Also, re: agility, does Dazzle know which item you want her to do next? To me, THAT was the hard part to teach to Buddy,
so that even when he was excited to be doing agility,
he could still listen to my voice,
to know WHICH item to go to next.
There are purebred only agility teams in my area, too, BUT, if i looked around hard enough, i can also locate all dog agility groups. This might be the same for your area, too, so keep looking, IF you are absolutely certain that Dazzle actually enjoys being around unknown dogs and unknown humans.
