I know it sounds a bit cliche, but I've recently noticed that my dog tends to bark and growl at the postman. But what's odd is, he only growls at postmen, nobody else!

Anybody could come up to my door and Jack wouldn't even bat an eye-lid, let alone get up to greet them. But when it comes to the postman, he's a regular guard dog!

Anybody else have this problem with their dog? I find it odd that he would target one specific profession and leave everybody else alone.

(Jack is an outside dog, if that helps)

one of my dogs doesnt like any visitors to the house and barks and growls like mad until they leave lol. dogs are dogs

Do you have a regular postman? If so you could have a word with him and maybe give him some treats to post though the door for a few weeks so the dog sees the postman coming as a good thing, then maybe move on to opening the door and letting the postman give the dog treats by hand.

My ex has the sweetest, friendliest, quietest Labrador in the world... until she sees the Postman. Then she's a different dog altogether!
They just make sure she never comes into contact with him, she hasn't had any bad experiences involving the poor chap but for some reason can't stand him.

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Scooter and Breeze - Labrador Retrievers
Cosmo - White Fife Canary

Because the postman rattles the letter box the dog barks and the postman goes away reinforcing the behaviour

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Yeah, I really can't understand why Jack would behave in such a way to the postman. He's a very friendly, if reserved, dog.

When strangers come to knock on the door, Jack will sit calmly beside them until I greet them.

Unless Jack thinks the Postman is trying to break-in or take something. Would dogs even consider th is? At the moment I'm just trying to find the root cause. Also, I'm trying to disassociate the whole behaviour with treats, as I don't want to reward his aggressiveness.

Can you use a command for the good behviour he displays for all other visitors and reward it?
Then once he has got the hang of the command try it with the post man?

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All mine have an introduction to the postman regularly and he's lovely always has treats in his pockets will be a shame when he finally retires. He's already met the pups and has agreed to let them have a good hello and sniff of his bag when they are a bit older, makes all the difference.

I'm not sure its the postman that sets them off or the fact that they deliver mail and the door goes without anyone visiting.

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These are my own personal views and opinions they do not represent the WCGB.

It's a cliche for a reason, I expect!

We're currently training Wispa to fetch the post (she's a labrador), so we reward her for fetching the letters rather than for barking. Maybe you could turn the post into a task for Jack - either fetching the letters, or coming to tell you perhaps?

Janet