We don't have guests (other than family) often enough to train the dogs adequately so they tend to rush up to guests and jump on them a little. They tend to not jump on us much when we come in- but strangers and guests affect them completely differently--
Winnie-ever the anxty teenager--thinks they are potentially going to rescue her from her suuuper annoying family and goes to greet them wild with happiness.
Bruno thinks they are perhaps going to hurt him so he barks and wags intermittantly, waiting for them to extend a friendly hand so he can calm down. So we have to explain that it will just take them a few minutes to adjust.
The hard thing for guests that I have come to realize is that Bruno looks like a killer--
rawrrrrr
...so it is hard for them to be freindly to him at first- which is the only thing that will calm him down (This is probably how Bruno developed this complex- he is scary looking- so people are frightened of him- so he is frightened back and the process if self-fulfilling unfortunately.)
Luckily we have two rooms- and gave Bruno some time to adjust (all he needed was 5 minutes) and when he came back and saw everyone sitting calmly, he was able to greet them more appropriately. I really appreciated how much of a chance my friends gave him- they really trusted me when I told them he wouldn't hurt them and confidently allowed him to get used to their presence. They petted him and scratched him and eventually I think he won them over.
After a few drinks, one of my friends remarked that we could make a lot of money having him play a scary dog in movies because of his scary look and giant head:
Of course, this is hard for me to imagine because I see him as a big cuddly teddy bear who saves me money on heating bills:
What do you all think? How do you deal with your pit bulls' appearence with strangers, friends and family-members?
