Dog Afraid Of Strangers

[chloebear]

I am not sure of what to do, I have a four month old puppy which is a rescue dog. From what I was advised she was very badly treated and neglected. I just had a visitor call in, and she was barking as if guarding, but sitting behind a piece of furniture cringing. Once I went outside, she ran to me and settled. I live out of town on acreage so she doesn't have much of an opportunity to socialise with both people and dogs. Help please? Unfortunately I more than likely won't be able to take her to obiedence classes so I need to address the issue myself.

[barkon]

I have no idea if my advice will be of any use to you, but thought I would share our experience. We adopted a Great dane who had had two years of a terrible life. We also live in a rural area and socialising is rare. After 6 years Konnie finally got to the point where, if someone ignored her she would come up behind them and sniff them, and even allow them to pat her.

How did we get there? Well, when she first was here, and people called, she would take off to the top part of the garden and stay there. I never had her inside with strangers, so she never felt trapped. If, on the rare occassion we had visitors, we would sit out on the porch and ignore her, but talk to the other animals, so she knew that these people weren't going to hurt her. It was a long and gradual effort. On occasion, if someone was here often, we would gently take her by the collar and lead her over to the person ( behind them, or beside them, never face on to them) and reassure her, and if all was good we let the person pat her. Always outside, never in. Mind, she was a very special dog, and despite her early years and her hang ups she never once was nasty in anyway.

So, after all that, have your pup near you whilst folk are outside, don't force the visitors to interact with her, just ignore her and let her come to it on her own. Reassure her lots. Oh, and don't let the visitors pat her if she is not willing, I found that those that came here and played the big tough dog people who tried to force Konnie to let them pat her, were ones that she never forgot! If I have it all wrong, I"m sorry, but it worked for us.

Good luck

[chloebear]

Barkon - Thanks sounds like good advice to me, and I will give it a go :rolleyes: I just wish people who don't want to take good care of pets wouldn't get them in the first place.