Fear of people

[Amy Horowitz]

First I want to thank everyone who sent me a welcome note!

My dog is a year and four months old. He was six months old when I got him from a breeder in MO. He LOVES other dogs but he is scared of people until he's been with them several times. I would love to take him to hospitals as a service pet but he's so skidish I can't take him. When a stranger wants to pet him I have to make him sit and hold him in place so the person can pet him. He's also scared of trash cans, sometimes the wind, and other every day things. Besides just exposing him to these "scary" things what can I do to help him get over these fears?

[Stella]

Make meeting people a positive experience. You could try, whenever you meet someone willing to help you out, give them a treat to give to him when he is sitting calmly. That way he learns that meeting new people equals treats, and also how to sit calmly for greetings, all on one go!! Take him out lots, to see everything possible in your neighbourhood, walk every street that you can so he gets exposed to as many things as possible. Always reward him for calm behaviour and he will soon learn. Do you take him to classes at all? I know he is not a young puppy, but at the puppy classes we took ours to, during playtime the trainer would bring out 'scary' distractions - vacuum cleaner, hammer, drill, and play a cd of loud noises - thunder, different animal noises etc, so that they became desensitised to these things while they were playing. A local trainer might have something similar for older dogs, or be able to help you out with some advice. Do you have any friends will calm unflappable dogs? You could go for walks together and when your dog sees that the other one isn't affected by the things he finds scary, he might learn from the other dog too. Hope this helps!!

[Linda and Murphy]

Stella's suggestion is perfect. I do that for a friend of mine who has a very shy PWD. (She also got him at 6 mos.) It has really helped with him.
We have a Farmers Market that Murphy and I visit on Saturday mornings. Its a great place to do meet and greets. We go through lots of treats there.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Stella's suggestions are really great. Ned's puppy class was not great. The teacher didn't do any of those things. Ned goes places but I can see that he has become somewhat afraid when people come at him. I am going to try more socialization at the park near me.

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

Dogs enter a stage of development at about 18 months where fear of people, things, etc surfaces again. Most grow out of it. Keep it calm and expose him to as much as you can in a very matter of fact way. Don't baby talk, pet or treat him while he is anxious. Give cooperative strangers smelly treats that he can seek out. Don't make too much of his fear, so that he picks up that you are worried too. He will not know you are worried about him, he will think you are worried about the same thing he is! You can try distracting him with commands that he knows to calm him, like sit, down, with lots of praise. Be careful to treat him only when he is calm, or he will keep up the anxiety because it earns him treats. Another way to calm him is to outwait his anxiety by just standing near what is bothering him. Don't look at or interact with him be very interested in tying your shoe or talking to your friend or whatever. Your matter of factness will quickly calm him. In a few months this should all be over.

[Debbie, Brianna and Duncan]

I recommend this book, this method is wonderful and has helped us out with our GSD
http://www.amazon.com/Cautious-Canine-Patricia-B-McConnell/dp/18917...

[Amy Horowitz]

Thanks for the input. Along with agility class I take him to obedience class too. He LOVES to go and now feels comfortable enough there that he will go up to people on his own. When we're in other public places he won't take treats from people and he won't stay in place once I have him sitting so the person can pet him. When we pass something on the street that he's scared of he tries to go on the other side of me and I make him walk next to the item. I'll just keep exposing him to "scary" things and we'll keep working on getting him comfortable with life outside of the house.