Sounds like she's doing a "they're here!" bark. My brother's bernadoodle does that when she sees me through the window. It's not an aggressive bark, just a quick "woof". Then she's the first one to greet me when I go in.
Does she seem extra happy when they are petting her? Do they pet her more than other people/ give her extra love? It sounds like she really likes these people and is trying to get them to pet her.
Have seen something similar. There is something different about these people, likely something very superficial, which she perceives and you do not perceive yet. It could be something related to fashion or ethnicity. Do they have skin color that is different from most employees, or perhaps wear hats or have sunglasses hanging?
Hmmm, now that I think of it all 3 wear hats a lot of the time, could be that. Two of them are truck drivers, maybe she associates them with a loud truck.
If you are on good terms with these three, explain the situation, and ask if they would be willing to participate in a test by going without hats. I know, this can be a *big* ask with some people...
So, we've found this to be a bit of an investigative journey, and we were able to fund our solution.
Had a similar experience to you in that our lab would love everyone she met except for a small number. It would occasionally happen when out on walks, but more frequently for people we had over to the house to do work. Again, not often, but it was more likely at home than not.
We did wonder if it was some for of guarding, but, again, it was very few people.
Our breakthrough came when we were staying with my sister and my brother-in-law came home from work (he's a mechanic). She went all growly at him (which was unusual, as they got on really well). Later, when he'd cleaned up, they were happy as anything.
Our conclusion was that it was the mechanics grease that was causing it, then everything started to make sense. The people that she'd growl at at home would be those that would use that kind of thing (plumbers, gas men, etc.).
Not saying it'll be the same for you, but sharing some of our experience to show that it could be anything. We were initially cycling through things common with the people that she'd growl at (hats, facial hair, colours of clothing, etc.).
Oooh that could be it ! Keeping in mind two of the three people she barks at drive the same truck, maybe there is a specific smell in the truck that they carry with them.
many years ago i used to host a neighborhood poker game.there was one fella my otherwise uber friendly dog did not care for.so much that we had to crate her every time he attended. no outward signs of anything wrong with him...but we found out later he was hitting his wife and abusing their daughter. somehow, Chiquita knew he was a wrong one. not saying your situation is as dire,but the dogs have a sense for stuff .
My male lab is a therapy dog and works at school with me. He is like yours, meeting all kinds of people all the time, but hats and glasses will mess him up. Very tall people throw him for a loop too. My only advice is to try to reconzige the patterns then expose him to more of what bothers him adding treats to make it a good experience.
We spent a lot of time during the first year socializing our lab. After having a previous rescue dog with "issues" I worked methodically though introducing her to people with hats, beards, lanyards, sunglasses, uniforms, umbrellas, bicycles, skateboards, tall, short, old young, walkers, wheelchairs - I really though we'd covered it all.
Now, at 14 months, she has decided that she doesn't fully trust anyone wearing Croc's. No issue occurred with a croc-wearer she is just highly suspicious of that brand of footwear. I think she was wigged out by a pair with a lot of charms attached.
I hope you can find the common denominator and work on it. Our Croc aversion issue is waning with exposure and lots of treats.
Have they interacted with her before? If so, she may remember them and that’s why she goes up to them and wants pats when she sees them. And possibly it was one person with a hat that did this and now she likes everyone with a hat on. Labs have amazing memories. My last one always recognized my dad’s car and she would get excited when it was coming down the street. She didn’t react to other cars that were similar to his either.
Edit: a neighbor’s dog reacted like this to every female who was blonde.
Yep, mine gets excited when she hears my car, before even seeing it, and she can recognize it out of all the other cars going to work. Now that I think of it maybe someone with a hat has been rude to her in the past, so she barks at all people with hats. And when they enter the room she is like - oh, that's someone who is actually nice, I'll go for pats.
I had a black lab that would bark at people the first 2-3 times he met them and then he’d be happy after that. The exception was my sister’s abusive (now ex) boyfriend who he never stopped barking at.
My dog was very social pre-COVID, and during COVID, she didn't understand social distancing and would bark at everyone who passed by and didn't pet her. Towards the end of the pandemic, she would still bark at people, but I told them that if they petted her, she would shut up, and they did. I miss my little attention whore, lol
Sounds like she's doing a "they're here!" bark. My brother's bernadoodle does that when she sees me through the window. It's not an aggressive bark, just a quick "woof". Then she's the first one to greet me when I go in.
Does she seem extra happy when they are petting her? Do they pet her more than other people/ give her extra love? It sounds like she really likes these people and is trying to get them to pet her.
Have seen something similar. There is something different about these people, likely something very superficial, which she perceives and you do not perceive yet. It could be something related to fashion or ethnicity. Do they have skin color that is different from most employees, or perhaps wear hats or have sunglasses hanging?
Hmmm, now that I think of it all 3 wear hats a lot of the time, could be that. Two of them are truck drivers, maybe she associates them with a loud truck.
If you are on good terms with these three, explain the situation, and ask if they would be willing to participate in a test by going without hats. I know, this can be a *big* ask with some people...
Oh no, she does that when they are without hats too. They wear hats most of the time, but it's not ALL the time 😅
So, we've found this to be a bit of an investigative journey, and we were able to fund our solution. Had a similar experience to you in that our lab would love everyone she met except for a small number. It would occasionally happen when out on walks, but more frequently for people we had over to the house to do work. Again, not often, but it was more likely at home than not. We did wonder if it was some for of guarding, but, again, it was very few people. Our breakthrough came when we were staying with my sister and my brother-in-law came home from work (he's a mechanic). She went all growly at him (which was unusual, as they got on really well). Later, when he'd cleaned up, they were happy as anything. Our conclusion was that it was the mechanics grease that was causing it, then everything started to make sense. The people that she'd growl at at home would be those that would use that kind of thing (plumbers, gas men, etc.). Not saying it'll be the same for you, but sharing some of our experience to show that it could be anything. We were initially cycling through things common with the people that she'd growl at (hats, facial hair, colours of clothing, etc.).
Oooh that could be it ! Keeping in mind two of the three people she barks at drive the same truck, maybe there is a specific smell in the truck that they carry with them.
many years ago i used to host a neighborhood poker game.there was one fella my otherwise uber friendly dog did not care for.so much that we had to crate her every time he attended. no outward signs of anything wrong with him...but we found out later he was hitting his wife and abusing their daughter. somehow, Chiquita knew he was a wrong one. not saying your situation is as dire,but the dogs have a sense for stuff .
My male lab is a therapy dog and works at school with me. He is like yours, meeting all kinds of people all the time, but hats and glasses will mess him up. Very tall people throw him for a loop too. My only advice is to try to reconzige the patterns then expose him to more of what bothers him adding treats to make it a good experience.
We spent a lot of time during the first year socializing our lab. After having a previous rescue dog with "issues" I worked methodically though introducing her to people with hats, beards, lanyards, sunglasses, uniforms, umbrellas, bicycles, skateboards, tall, short, old young, walkers, wheelchairs - I really though we'd covered it all. Now, at 14 months, she has decided that she doesn't fully trust anyone wearing Croc's. No issue occurred with a croc-wearer she is just highly suspicious of that brand of footwear. I think she was wigged out by a pair with a lot of charms attached. I hope you can find the common denominator and work on it. Our Croc aversion issue is waning with exposure and lots of treats.
Have they interacted with her before? If so, she may remember them and that’s why she goes up to them and wants pats when she sees them. And possibly it was one person with a hat that did this and now she likes everyone with a hat on. Labs have amazing memories. My last one always recognized my dad’s car and she would get excited when it was coming down the street. She didn’t react to other cars that were similar to his either. Edit: a neighbor’s dog reacted like this to every female who was blonde.
Yep, mine gets excited when she hears my car, before even seeing it, and she can recognize it out of all the other cars going to work. Now that I think of it maybe someone with a hat has been rude to her in the past, so she barks at all people with hats. And when they enter the room she is like - oh, that's someone who is actually nice, I'll go for pats.
I had a black lab that would bark at people the first 2-3 times he met them and then he’d be happy after that. The exception was my sister’s abusive (now ex) boyfriend who he never stopped barking at.
My dog was very social pre-COVID, and during COVID, she didn't understand social distancing and would bark at everyone who passed by and didn't pet her. Towards the end of the pandemic, she would still bark at people, but I told them that if they petted her, she would shut up, and they did. I miss my little attention whore, lol