Scared of People???

[jagresti]

My Sophie is almost 8 months old and I have had her since 4 months. She is a great dog - never barks unless someone is coming towards the door (which is fine with me), plays with me, my gf, our kids, is fairly easy to train, etc. The only complaint I have is that she is extremely scared of almost all people she meets for the first few times. After she gets to know someone, she is ok, but FREAKS OUT meeting someone for the first few times. She will almost choke herself out on the leash trying to run away if someone comes to pet her. Doesnt matter - man, woman or child. She is ok with other dogs, it is just people. This is really strange to me since when I got her, the reason I picked her out was that she was great with me and my kids at the kennel.
It is becoming very frustrating not being able to walk her near people. I try to get her exposed to people when I walk her, but it usually results in the person leaving felling bad that she will hurt herself from freaking out. Since this is my first boxer, I asked around and was told that she would grow out of it, but it has been the same thing for 4 months now. What do you all think? I have never had a dog scared like this from such a young age and not grow out of it yet. Thanks,

 

[konaboy]

My Kona is terrified of people too

It's really hard when they are scared of people. A trainer told me not to force Kona to meet people. She said it's like making a child give a stranger a hug when they are standing there crying. That's what our dogs are doing they are saying I don't want to. Then I tell people to completely ignore him. Don't touch, talk, or look at him. I let him smell them and then if he becomes more comfortable have them toss treats to him and after a little time I let them feed him treats. Once he knows someone he loves them it just takes a little time. I hope this helps you and I don't know if it will help Sophie but it's worth a try. Good luck

 

[xJazerx]

What kona said ^^

She has a personal bubble, and someone needs to gain her trust before she lets them in. Totally understandable! She probably thinks people are going to invade her bubble the second they come near her. Definitely let her do the interacting before letting new people even look at her. She needs a confidence booster, which she can attain by not feeling intimidated by people focusing on her. Think about it, happens ALL the time... you see a person on the walk, they come up to you "awww puppy, can I pet it?" without even looking at you, but eyes focused on the dog. This must be intimidating! Avoid any confrontations like this if you can.

 

[srennie]

We adopetd a 4y/o who was afraid of strange men and like the other 2 have said, don't force her. Explain to people that she is working on becoming more social and ask if you can just stand and chat with them without them looking at or reaching for her. Once she becomes curious and wants to sniff them you can hand them a treat to offer her. It takes time and most people are happy to help. With Darby I would search out groups of men at the park (yes, that sounds strange) and ask them if I could just stand near them and talk.

Also, people have really horrible dog manners so when she does get to the point that she wants to meet people ask them NOT to bend over her or reach over her head. The most polite way is to crouch down with their body sideways to her and let her approach and then pet under her chin or offer a treat on a flat palm.

Another idea if she has a super social doggy friend is to walk together. When she sees her friend getting love and treats for being social she may very well change her mind. Our little boston is very social and it helped Darby a lot. She'd hang back and watch him interact with people and would soon decide she wanted to join the party.