# Help With a Rescue Dog's Fear of Strange People (Mostly Men)



## Panzer56 (May 5, 2014)

I adopted my three year-old terrier mix from the shelter just under three months ago. When we adopted her, it was said she was a stray and not much was really known about her previous history. She was described as a shy,timid dog, but greeted both myself and my boyfriend happily when we picked her out. She was immediately attached to my boyfriend, so I had no reason to believe she was weary of men.

As more social situations have been presented to her, we find that she is very fearful of men, and will react fearfully by barking loudly, raising her fur, and getting down on the ground when they approach her. Even if she takes a treat from them or sniffs them, she will continue to bark and remain guarded once she is finished eating it. Even if she doesn't appear fearful of the person upon meeting, if they later do something that freaks her out (yell, move their hands quickly) she will begin barking. For example---I was walking her in the park yesterday when an unfamiliar Pit approached. Both dogs were sniffing. My dog was clearly distracted by the new dog, and had no reaction to the owner bending down and patting her face, back, and tail. However, after she was pulled away from the dog, the owner tried calling her to him again and she began barking fearfully (despite the fact that he had just touched her without issue) because the distraction was gone. 

She does not typically exhibit the this of behavior in passing; only when a person makes it very clear that they are approaching. I am able to walk her on the sidewalk on a loose leash while men walk, jog, push carriages, and ride bikes immediately to our left. I find she is completely okay with men walking around her and ignoring her, she only seems to bark if they enter our home or begin to pay attention to her. It is uncommon that she will display this behavior towards a child or strange woman; the worst she will do is cower or walk away. Once a child ran up to her, waving a stick in her face. She cowered and trotted away. Meanwhile, if a guy had done this, she would have freaked. 

Does anyone have any suggestions on desensitizing her to new people? For now I've been telling them to just ignore her and let her approach on her own terms (Which has been pretty difficult, as it seems everyone wants to try and make "friends" with the dog). She has gotten very comfortable with my boyfriend's family through frequent exposure and slow introductions, though it doesn't appear that she is generalizing her feelings to other strangers. She had her typical reaction to my boyfriend's dad upon first meeting, but will now actually greet him at the door with kisses and a wiggly butt. I don't want a dog that will be in love with every person she meets, but I would at least like her to be comfortable enough that she won't be scared out of her mind and barking up a storm.


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## goodgirl (Jan 14, 2013)

I think you're spot on with the ignoring her and letting her come up on her own. It's really important that it be her choice. by ignoring her they shouldn't even look at her! Her bravery will increase if she can freely retreat when she feels the need, and feels NO pressure to interact. You can toss high value treats to build positive associations for her, toss them away from the scary person. If she finds a situation too much to handle without barking and feeling afraid, simply increase the distance from whatever is triggering that. If you're at home you can tuck her in another room with a chewy or something until she calms down, then open the door letting her come out on her own if she wants, repeating the ignoring and tossing the treats. The next step might be to have the scary stranger toss her treats away from them. Maybe start tossing them closer if she's getting comfortable. Kind of progress like that if that makes sense? Patience is key. I know it seems impossible for some people to go along with this kind of plan, but if you can keep her from going over threshold (barking and feeling very anxious) it will greatly speed things up for her. Peoples' hearts are in the right place, but you might really need to insist they don't scare her, or just take her away if nothing else!

You can also play the "Look at That" game (LAT) on walks. Reward her for attention on you and calm (not frightened) behavior. Works especially well with a clicker... but it sounds like she's fine as long as people aren't intrusive. She may just be shy by nature and never be a social butterfly, but that's OK, right?


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## Bayonet (Dec 26, 2012)

I second goodgirl's comment. My rescue is the same way, and she's really strange with it. Hated my boyfriend at first meeting but now he is totally her favorite person ever. We're not sure what kinds of men trigger her, since it's been seemingly random. She'll either approach with a waggly tail and jump up, or she'll approach with her ears back, and head down and kinda cower. We tell all of our guests to PLEASE ignore the dog (I know what you mean when some people just insist on petting the dog -_-), and that always ends up with her eventual acceptance of the man and she'll come up and kiss their faces. 

The key is REALLY getting to know the dog's body language. My dog is silent, and I know right when she's about to snap at someone who is petting her. When you see the signs, just tell the person to stop. It got better over time, and I'm sure your situation will too!


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## Greater Swiss (Jun 7, 2011)

One other thing to consider.....is there anything at all possible in common with the men that your pooch seems scared of. Beards, hairstyle, ball caps, baggy jeans, hoodies, workboots, perhaps even cologne? It could be something tiny and seemingly inconsequential to you, but not necessarily to a dog. I know of one dog who doesn't like orange jackets (go figure....I don't know if they can see orange, but they must...). There could be something, and if you can pin it down that might help even more to desensitize to it. Other than considering that, I'll third goodgirl's comments, hit the nail on the head.


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## Stephie (Apr 29, 2010)

We are currently going through something similar with our new pup. She is terrified of people if she is outside of our home - her comfort zone. We hired a trainer almost immediately after adopting her. They suggested, as you said, have people ignore her. Allow her to check them out without them directly approaching. Also, when we take her out, they recommended that we use a high value treat (human food, we use hot dogs) to help with conditioning. She doesn't get these any other time. This way, she associates strangers with this yummy treat. We take her to a shopping center near our house with a hot dog cut into small pieces and have her perform commands with people walking by while constantly rewarding her good behavior. If she reacts by barking, we immediately distract her by using commands or starting to walk to break her focus if commands do not work. I am by no means a dog trainer, but these methods by our trainer do help.


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