SDickson

Hi, we have a 14 month-old Yorkshire Terrier/Maltese cross who we have had since he was 11 weeks. He has been socialised well...kids, cafes, beaches, dogs, holidays, crowded places etc. He gets on well with other dogs and plays equally well with small and big dogs. In general he loves the people he knows but is happy to ignore people he does not know until he warms to them, could be 10 mins or days, depending on the person. He has been to puppy school and was neutered at 11 months. His main issue is that he seems to think he is in charge of security at home and is territorial of our property. However, after working with him and using a combination of rewarding him / distracting him when visitors come to the door this has become a lot better. He still does not like tradesmen, but now grudgingly accepts them. His random barking at passers-by outside our property has also become a lot better after thanking him and checking to see the ‘danger’, before telling him it is ok. The one issue that remains and that I am struggling with though is that, when offlead, he can randomly run up to a stranger (particularly lone men without a dog) and bark aggressively at them. When I call him back his recall is about 70%. This never happens at a dog park though, as he ignores the owners and plays with the dogs, only when we are at a regular park. When he returns to me, I reward him for the recall, but am slightly concerned that he may think I am rewarding him for warding off the stranger? Would love some help with this. Many thanks.