Does This Stress Her Out or is it Fun for Her?

This sounds like anxiety to me. Just because she is wagging her tail, does not mean she is happy. Often dogs wag their tails when they are showing aggression, fear or stress. It might just be a fear she has developed, or it could be something she has experienced in her past. I would say if she was rescued from a puppy mill, it wasn't something in her past. Puppy mill dogs generally have very little, to no human contact due to the neglect of the owner. There are a lot of dogs who develop weird anxieties out of nowhere. Sometimes they can be helped with dedicated training from the current owner, and there are other times when they have an extremely hard time getting over it, and just have to live with it. But you can always do things to lower her stress level, if it is something that cannot be corrected. I would speak with a veterinary behaviorist or your local vet for further advice on what to do. But this certainly does not sound like she is having fun.

Here's my guess. I could be completely wrong, but it's the only thing I can think of that really makes sense:

She was raised in a puppy mill. Puppy mills are often run by VERY abusive people. My guess is that whoever 'cared' for her was a male, and would maybe kick her on a regular basis. I'm thinking that now that she's in a better environment, she is learning to stand up for herself, and therefore whenever a man raises his foot and she thinks he will kick her, she then will fight back to defend herself. Once he puts his foot down and doesn't kick her, she is immediately thrilled and does the 'happy dog dance'. Maybe she also knows that a bare or socked foot isn't as much of a threat as a shoed foot.

That's just my guess. To me, it's the only real reason I can come up with that would make sense for her to act like this. If you're really worried, try taking her to an animal psychologist. To try and keep her calm and happy, just try not to have men walk around her too much.

Congrats on rescuing a mill pup! You've made her world such a better place :)

It could possible the fact that she had a dramatic past before you adopted her. Her past owner could have been a male who wore tennis shoes. She might be reacting out of fear from a past experience.

Now the happy part is most likely because as you stated she is very attached to you, and even when is is freaking out and attacking the shoe, seeing you could override the fear in essence.

Sounds as if your dog is really stressed out by this.

She seems to have a few issues and that is just a new one. If she was my dog, I would try to find a professional dog trainer to get things right.

She is NOT a happy dog, she rather is a very confused dog and shows all the signs - attacking toes, growing, showing teeth, licking you.

I am sure a few simple adjustments in your household and all will fall in place quickly and she will be a very happy dog.

Dagmar

http://freehomemadedogfoodrecipes.com/