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good thing you’re a good leash ninja. as a practical matter, ’til you get everything in place that’s needed to — hopefully — extinguish this behavior, I advise avoiding situations like this by putting distance between you and what nugget sees as a threat as quickly and calmly as possible. in this case that would be mean something like asking the delivery guy going up the stairs to please wait a second so you could turn around with with nugget and get out of his way. head to head/face to face encounters are fraught. best to avoid them. if it’s any consolation, stuff like this isn’t uncommon for many dogs. think flight-defence-fight-prey. nugget perceived a threat. flight was not an option. defence-fight was next on hit parade. so, yeah, there’s a very good chance nugget would have gone for the delivery guy, either to get him to back off (defence) or to beat him real good (fight). lots needs to be in place to change behaviors like this. ideally, reproducing situations like this in a controllable environment while working some combination of desensitization/counterconditioning, giving an alternate behavior, and phase 2/3 level discipline are what’s needed. but, for now, as a practical/safety matter, imp, ya gotta manage the situation; i.e., avoid by creating distance in a calm manner that shows you are leader hand you have things under control. i’m not sure if nugget was defending you, himself, or the two of you. as a practical matter, it doesn’t much matter, i suppose. but having watched you and nugget together and seeing how nugget looks at you, and considering his breed, i’m pretty sure he was protecting both you and him. i have a feeling he’d make a pretty good personal protection dog. but right now i think the path is to get more phase 2 obedience in place + management. if you’re really concerned and don’t think you can deal with all potential situations, you might consider a muzzle, but it’s the training and leadership that’s most imptnt. fear-aggression. leash-manners walking in progressively more distracting environments is something i would work on if i were you. speaking both from personal experience and apprenticeship experience & training a couple of aggressive dogs. another note: situational awareness whenever you are out is crucial. so you can avoid dangerous situations by creating distance.
