Clueless Tenant Puzzled About Landlord's Dog That Circles Around And Bites Her, Tries To Understand Its Behavior By Asking Dog Lovers

She wants to make sense of the dog's behavior, so she sought answers from an online community.

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• Published in Interesting
• April 9, 2024

In a piece by the renowned dog whisperer Cesar Millan, he notes that a dog incessantly barking and spinning in circles is not indicative of a happy state for the canine. Such behavior typically signals excessive excitement in dogs.

To help calm excessively excited dogs, experts suggest several strategies. Teaching a calming cue through obedience training, such as sit, come, down, stay, and polite walking, gradually acclimates the dog to remain calm in various environments.

Training the dog's nose by hiding treats or kibble encourages focus and redirects energy positively. Interrupting playtime periodically and encouraging relaxation breaks aids in regulating excitement levels.

Maintaining a calm demeanor during greetings and walks helps manage arousal, as dogs often reflect their owner's energy. Varying cues associated with activities like walks or mealtime reduce anticipation and excessive excitement.

Incorporating relaxation techniques such as gentle petting while the dog is lying down reinforces calm behavior. Over time, dogs associate relaxation with positive experiences.

Reinforcing relaxation initially with treats, then gradually phasing them out will cement calm behavior patterns. Consistency, patience, and positive reinforcement are necessary for successfully calming an overly excited dog and promoting their overall well-being.

Over at Quora, a tenant observes a certain behavior in her landlord's dog whenever she's around. She asks this question:

What does the dog mean by constantly circling, roaring, and biting me? It should be noted that this is not my dog, but my landlord's dog.

One user believes the original poster (OP) should just avoid the dog.

That means avoid the dog. I’d have to see the dog’s behavior to know more, but they clearly don’t want you around them. This is a pretty dangerous situation and you’re likely to get bit.

I may also notify my landlord if I’m going to be by to give them an opportunity to put the dog somewhere safe, and if they refuse, it’s time to move if you’re able to.

Maybe the dog just wants to play.

If it is a somewhat younger dog, could it possibly be trying to play?

Sometimes dogs run around, jump around, make noise, and try to get you to play with them, including biting and mouthing.

Others interpret it as a response to its territory getting invaded.

You are entering HIS space. You may be invited by the owner though you are consistently entering the dogs personal space uninvited.

You NEED to stand in place & without making direct eye contact or talking ALLOW the dog to come up & sniff you. Do NOT REACH OUT TO PET THE DOG.

After the dog sniffs you up & down wait a bit. If you proceed & dog growls? Do not look at the dog.

DO NOT BACK UP EITHER. Don't even itch your ankle with your other foot.

Backing up is threatening to a dog & you doing this will cause the dog to bite you. You may proceed forward after you have permission by the dog.

After the dog has sniffed & circled around you a few times. Going forward to fast you will get bit.

You must wait a bit ok

The OP could just directly ask the landlord why it's behaving this way around her.

It means that for whatever reason your landlord's dog has become convinced that you are a danger to and/or do not belong on your landlord's property. The behavior you are describing is an animal defending their territory against an intruder.

You need to speak to your landlord and figure out why that is the case and what can be done to resolve the problem.

We then have a person who makes a groundless guess.

There’s something about you the dog doesn’t like. Do some soul searching and see if you are an evil person.

I always trust my dog.

It's impossible to rule out what it means when the landlord's dog does all of those things when the OP is around. The comments from the community are a good start.

In other words, she needs to stay away from the dog as much as possible. And since she's a tenant, she can always complain to her landlord if the dog's behavior is an inconvenience to her.

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