- i would not label this 'protective' - she's timid. She is being SELF-protective or defensive.

- it is not at all obvious that she's 'protecting the ppl already in the room'.
she could be very sensitive to environmental change: movement, sound, breeze, scent, new objects,
novel people, unusual behavior; ALL of those are very typical of terrierrrists, who are thin-skinned & reactive,
but even more typical of timid dogs, who like timid people are hypervigilant.

- does the family-member Live In The Household - or were they visiting?

- telling her to "say she's sorry" presumes a whole lot of things about dogs, & about her in particular.
being scared & barking to make someone go away is not something a dog can be SORRY for; they felt threatened,
& were acting in their own defense; why would they feel guilty or sorry about that? it's a perfectly reasonable action.

- there's no way to guarantee she won't do this in the future; she needs to become more trusting
of non-family humans & humans in general. It sounds as tho her breeder did not provide good socialization,
or perhaps she is simply a timid dog - which BTW is extremely heritable, & i hope the breeder
stopped breeding her when s/he realized the pups were affected.
a congenitally-timid dog can only be modified so far, but the earlier the process begins, the better the prognosis.
she is 6-YO; if she were 6-WO the odds would be much improved. Still, she can be helped - how much it is
impossible to say, that depends on how severe her problems, how good Ur training skills, & how consistently
U apply B-mod.

however - if she is startled in the future by a visitor who moves abruptly, stares at her, looms over her,
or otherwise makes her feel uneasy & threatened, don't blame her for reacting; instead, remove her from
the visitor's presence, or remove the visitor from her presence.

Ur own out-of-character behavior [cast on leg? sitting a lot? not rising to escort visitors in? ...]
is no doubt adding to her fears, & she is even more-anxious than normal.


for B-mod:
i'd suggest calmatives - see this post for What, When, How, etc:
Pet Forums Community - View Single Post - dog body-language - and why it matters so much...

i'd also suggest a minimum of 3: 1 oral, 1 tactile, & 1 olfactory.
whichever one works fastest will help to support the other 2, & each works on a different sensory mode.

Trish McConnell's short booklet can be very helpful -
The Cautious Canine-Dog Behavior Problem Solving Booklets at Patricia McConnell


for detailed, step-by-step protocols without confrontation or flooding, i'd suggest the book Click to Calm.
there are UTube videos which can be helpful as samples, altho of course the skill level varies, depending upon
who is doing the exercise & how well they read the dog, their timing, etc.

__________________
terry pride, APDT-Aus, apdt#1827, CVA, TDF
*wolves R wolves, dogs R dogs, + primates R us.*
tmp, sept-2007

Hi All,

Just an update. Nothing wrong with ears, eyes or any body pain.

Vet said that it could have been a one off of her protecting me and what I did discipline wise was correct and to keep an eye on her and make sure that she is not left along with any young children ( not really an issue for us ).

He also said that there is a remote possibility that when she was spayed a small piece of ovarian tissue might have remained which could lead to a phantom pregnancy.

He advised to keep an eye on her and if she reacts again like that to bring her back in and they'll do blood and hormonal testing.

Thank you ALL for the support

Amz

while i respect vets enormously, their area of expertise is not behavior; it's ill-health & injury.
only veterinary-behaviorists, who are DVMs that continue study to be board-certified in behavior,
can really be relied upon for sound, trustworthy advice on behavior.

here in the USA, many vets are not even taught truly safe & pain-free ways to restrain a frightened animal.
behavior - normal, species-specific behavior - is not taught in vet-schools, they have a massive curriculum
to stagger thru for small-animal or large-animal Dx, Tx, & likely prognoses.

dominance, pack-theory, & all that stuff about controlling dogs by intimidation & power-struggles
is simply outdated, mistaken twaddle. U can safely jettison it all.
i would not leave her with anyone - if i left the room, she'd go with me, on a leash or following.
if she would not come out from under or behind something, i'd LEAVE HER THERE & take my guest out,
closing the door.
had she gained any weight?
did she show visible boobs, with hair-loss? was she lactating?
did she collect & defend small objects as 'puppy-substitutes'?

if none of those were present, i seriously doubt his conclusion.
if ANY ovary remains, U'll soon know: she'll cycle in & out of estrus, just as if she were intact.
big, unmistakeable clue - thank heaven!

i am going to guess that HER behavior developed AFTER that accident?

what has changed about how U behave when visitors arrive?
are U still wearing a hefty cast, & not hobbling about more than U must?

i'd bet that normally, U go to the door to let them in; nowadays, U are more likely to call to them
& tell them to come in. since we know she's leery of people & somewhat timid, this is a massive change
for her: the pattern of behavior is wrong. As she already worries [excessively] about friendly strangers,
having her house invaded by a stranger who has not been admitted by her 'parents', plus the fact
that U are raising Ur voice to be heard outside, can create much-more tension than her usual
stranger-apprehension - & she is reacting more than normal.

i could, of course, be entirely wrong: this is surmise, but it's a common pattern, & i've seen many variations.

__________________
terry pride, APDT-Aus, apdt#1827, CVA, TDF
*wolves R wolves, dogs R dogs, + primates R us.*
tmp, sept-2007