Scared of strange men!

[pghboxers]

Hi there!

I'm trying to acclimate our rescue (who will be 2 years old this year) to new men, specifically, since he is very reactive towards men at first. The bigger and hairier the man is the worse it gets (who can blame him, right?! haha!)

People are always asking to pet him, but I usually avoid because he is pretty fearful towards new men. By fearful, I mean low/quite growls (which escalate the closer the man gets), hair stands up on end, tail straight up, and often times backs up between my legs so only his head is sticking out. He's never showed his teeth or snapped at anyone (dogs, yes...people, no). He's never, ever shown this behavior towards us, and is nothing but a big sweetie at home!

He generally makes friends with anyone who hands him a treat, including men. This is how we acclimate him to new family members and friends entering our house. He is especially fearful and reactive at our house, or in our car (anywhere he perceives as "his"..hotel rooms, camping areas, etc). While on walks, he is still reactive but not nearly as much.

Is it ok to ask strangers (men) that have asked to pet him or that have shown any interest in him to hand him a treat, then pet him? Once he takes a treat or two, he calms down quite a bit. He'll allow petting then, but not on his head (he is just now, 10 months of having him, allowing us to pet his head). Or should I just ask them to hand him a treat, no petting after?

Any other suggestions for treating that issue?

We've done clicker training, but I am sometimes with two dogs (our other gal, 4 yrs old, happy go lucky boxer), and the clicker gets confusing for her and him.

Anyone following previous posts of mine - we're still working on our dog reactivity, although I'm not sure that will ever be solved completely, it is getting better!

My goal is to simply go for walks in public, in the presence of other dogs and people, and have no barking/lunging/growling or pulling on the leash. That is my end goal for this pup. Going to training classes is hard for me, as my schedule varies so much week to week, so I do my own training sessions in heavily traveled public areas (walking paths, hiking trails, or pet stores).

Thanks guys

 

[whiskers]

I would take it a step back and just have YOU give him treats when he is in the presence of men.

My dog is pretty wary of strangers. I don't have strangers give her treats unless they are like, an employee at a vet clinic and they need to interact with my dog. Strangers out and about? Nope, I keep the pressure off Juno and don't ask them for "help," and if they ask if they can pet her I usually tell them "sorry, she's nervous." One of the best ways to get a dog "over" these fears is to make it clear to them that you are not going to force the scary thing upon them. That they don't have to interact with people that they don't want to. Basically, they need to know that you will protect them.

All treats come from me. If Juno looks at scary people, she gets treats. If we walk past people, she gets treats. If she approaches someone, she gets treats. I reward her for each time she makes even the tiniest acknowledgement of the people around her, without having a negative reaction and freaking out. This takes the pressure off her - it's a game, it's her choice if she wants to look at someone. And if she does, I'll reward it. But she doesn't have to, she doesn't have to go up to the stranger in order to get her treat.

This is just my personal take on it because I realized a very long time ago that Juno is never going to be the kind of dog that LOVES strangers and wants them to pet her. And I've learned to accept that and I'm okay with it. My goal for her then is to just get her comfortable with being in the presence of strangers, no petting necessary. So far we are pretty close to achieving that goal but it takes a lot of work