Anyone else have a shy boxer

[joannbeil]

Laila is very shy around others she does not know. She wags her little tail but will not come near the person. Even if I stand near them. It is more toward men. She has not had any bad experiences that I know of. We have had her since she was 14 weeks. She is now 6 months old. She will shake like she is scared and hide by my husband or I whoever is not near the person.

Jo Ann

 

[duke's nana]

Within the last 2 weeks I have been taking Duke (5 months) to the walking trail and he was very shy. He would try to hide behind me and pull to get away. I started putting treats in my pocket to give to people to give to him and this has really helped.

 

[Pearlywhirly]

Give her some time and try to be calm, she is still a baby and the world is huge according to her. If you make a real big todo about it that will only increase her fears. Also, baby talking and cooing is confusing as it sounds like reward talk, you don't want to reward the fear. They simply can't make the distinction between rewards and comforting, it all sounds the same. If you're nonchalant and calm (hint: ignore it) your dog will come around and realize it's no big deal. Maybe have the stranger offer a smelly good treat and get down lower, more on dog level and turning to the side but not staring her directly in the eye as that is challenging. Try to expose her to as many different scenarios as possible so she can build her confidence up. As soon as she starts approaching strangers on her own then give her tons of praise.

 

[joannbeil]

She will not take a treat from someone else. I have been trying to expose her to people and situations. Thanks for the advice. I will keep it up and hope she comes around. I thought it might be a puppy thing

Jo Ann

 

[ELubas]

Timid girl

My last girl. Ailis, started out very timid. Everyone thought she wa a resue! It is part puppy and part personality. As Ai grew I tried hard not to baby her like others have said. She was not food motivated so that made it harder. Carry something special that she does not get unless you are "socializing". I use boiled beef hearts-lots of protein for puppies and they love it! If she does anything good-not pull away from a stranger, move toward them-treat her! And take her everywhere you can-the bank, the drycleaner, any dog freindly places you can find. And tell people what you are trying to do so you can control thier approach a little. Well meaning people will come straight at her (scary to a dog) or try to pat the top of her head (threatening to a dog). You want people who will let her come to them. They should pretty much ignore her and if she moves toward them-treat! Sounds like a lot of work I know but by the time my girl was three she LOVED going out and meeting people . She never was "outgoing" like her brother but she grew to enjoy the attention of strangers. Sweet thing went to the bridge way too young this year but turned out to be the best dog i ever had-your girl will too! Good luck and don't let anyhone tell you she should be different-she is perfect the way she is and will grow brave through your attention and love! My girl will be sending her courage from the bridge!

 

[Lola's mum]

Lola is pretty shy of people also. We've had her from 8 wks and she's never had any bad experiences or anything. Our house is always quite busy with lots of visitors, kids friends etc and she's always been the same.
Once she's seen the person a few times she's ok with them (my friend Debbie came over on Thursday and was pretty chuffed because Lola actually went up to her to say hello ).
It is men mainly she's shy with and with some visitors she actually barks & growls at them.
I tell people to ignore her and not to force her to come to them (some guests see her as a challenge I'm sure and try to win her over).

I hope telling guests to just ignore her and leave her alone is the right thing to do? I don't want her forced into anything she's not comfortable with.
So you're not alone Jo Ann

 

[Pearlywhirly]

I know what you mean, Lola's Mum. A friend of mine came over the other day and thought he would be funny and bring a laser pointer. I asked him to please not get her going with it as Pearl seriously loses her mind with one of those things. He kept asking me why not and even started the cats on it while Pearl was napping. I guess I could have let him get poked in the parts a few times but I like him too much to do that to him. Sometimes people just won't listen.

Ignoring is good, if you can get them to follow through with it. I always try to get newcomers to ignore the jumping and beaning but it has yet to work, sigh...

 

[SuperCooper]

Cooper is still to this day extremely gunshy of men. It takes him quite some time to warm up to them. Strangers well he is okay with them as long as he believes that they are here to see him but he is very protective of the kids. He is just a momma's boy just like my skin kids are -- I don't think he will ever really "grow" out of it. He has been socialized since he was a small puppy but think he just likes girls.

 

[catcrazy56]

Foreman is shy too, I tried taking him to hockey arenas to expose him around people and he still is shy to strangers once he get to know you though watch out and sometimes he goes grazy over women he has never met before. We were at a baseball tournament and he was lying a down a lady (boxer freak) came over and got on her knees and said oh boxers and foreman jumped all over her knocking her glasses off. As if he had known her all his life it was weird. He did it too this weekend when we were away its definetely more a male thing now.