dog is stressed around people

[tricia beaver]

My Siberian husky gets stressed around new people or people she has met but doesn't know. I have tried having a friend come over and give her treats but she refuses to eat the treats and it doesn't help. I took her biking with me, a brand new experience for her and she was perfectly fine with the bike and new place. She took treats when no one but me was around, and was a happy dog, but if someone was near, she refused.
I got her at 8 months old and she wouldn't come out of her kennel unless she went outside. She just wanted to stay in there all the time. I have her to the point where she will socialize with us inside and in the yard without wanting to go the kennel.
How can I help her be less stressed by unknown people?

[Maxy24]

What does she do exactly? Not taking treats is just another sign of stress, I would stop letting people interact with her at all. She can go and sniff them, touch them, etc. but they should leave her alone until she is VERY comfortable with them and willing to take treats. If she is able to ignore the guests you may see if she'll accept treats (no pushing/encouraging let them offer a treat, if she refuses they need to go away) watching guests closely would indicate that she's worried about them, if she is able to lay down and relax on her own, not having to obsess over the guest, then it's a sign she's becoming more comfortable with them being there and they can try tossing a few treats her way and handing her treats. If she likes to play fetch they can try a low intensity game of that. If she refuses then make them leave her alone.


However I don't want to give too much advice without more info about her behavior. What does she do when people come over your house or come near her on a walk? How long does it take her to warm up to those people that she has warmed up to? Does it happen in one visit or does it take several? The more info the better. I have a fear aggressive dog (he's fear aggressive towards strangers), so I know a little bit about working with this sort of fear, he's actually taught me a TON about dog behavior as he's not what I typically expect of a fearful dog. So I'd love to help if I can.

But each dog handles fear in a such a different way, just remember that you should never push interaction, it's safer if the guest pretends the dog does not exist, it allows the dog to feel safe because this potentially dangerous human obviously has no interest in him. Guests often try to offer a hand to sniff, talk gently to the dog, make kissy noises, etc. all in good spirit, but is can cause a fearful dog to go right over the edge. My dog actually "tests" guests who I have instructed to completely ignore him. After he finishes barking at them and realizes they are not paying attention he feels safe to go sniff, and he does, sometimes he puts his paws on their legs to sniff up higher (he's a small dog)-like I said he's odd, he does not try to avoid strangers at all. Then he does the test, he steps back and stares at their face, really stares, looks like he's prepared to bark at any moment...and then people tend to see the dog intently staring at their face and feel like he's trying to "connect" with them and they look back into his eyes and smile and my dog has a meltdown. Stranger fails test. Now if the stranger does as I tell them (I now prep the strangers for his staring) and they pass the stare down test he will calm down very quickly and be able to relax somewhat, things just get better from there. He'll soon be able to tolerate slight interaction (some talking and looking) I also try to redirect him if I see someone about to fail the stare test and I call him away so he doesn't notice them looking at him and then remind the stranger to just ignore him, then I let him go back to investigating. I MUST let him do his investigation if he is to relax around them, if I just leash him and keep him away from them he will continue to be a nervous wreck for their whole visit. He is rarely comfortable enough to seek attention from visitors in one visit, but if they stay for several hours he is normally fine with them walking at him, talking to him, looking him in the face, playing with him, etc. just not really okay with touching, though he won't react aggressively he just moves back (I don't tell people to do this but it happens). But he has a memory like no other, my friend came for a visit once, he was comfortable with her by the end of her visit, just like I described above. The next time she came over, a little over a month later, he greeted her with excitement, I was shocked. He met her once yet remembered she was safe.

Sorry, I'm just rambling now, but I really enjoy working with him on his fear aggression, I am able to see progress so fast with him and I learn how to read him really well.
Also wanted to mention there is a fearful dog yahoo group (shy K9 I think it's called) so you might want to join it!

[lauren43]

I am interested in what others have to say on this subject as I have a stranger shy dog as well. Though my dog is weird because sometimes he's afraid of people, sometimes he is not. He also barks at the people he's afraid of but will take treats from just about anyone no matter how scared he is.

[xellil]

Even though my dogs aren't afraid, i never let anyone come up and interact with them. Especially strangers. I just don't think it's a good idea. Let her know that yes those people are there but no one's going to ask her to do anything.

When I first got Rebel I thought I should let him get approached, but he started getting obviously stressed, whining etc. Then one day a little gang of about ten 8 year olds swarmed us and one of them was trying to hit him with a tree limb. Since then, if I see anyone coming up to us I just say "he'll bite you." That keeps them all away.

At home, I tell everyone, even people they know, to totally ignore them. Then when things settle down I'll let the dogs go up to them if they want to, and if the people want them to.

[tricia beaver]

When someone comes by she will usually stay as far way from them as possible and lowers her head to her shoulder level. Just stares, ears up, no noises. If they ignore her and don't notice her at all she will walk closer and sniff. If they hold out a hand or move towards her, she moves away. Unfortunately she IS a husky and a beautiful one, so everyone wants to pet her. It takes about 3 visits for her to start warming up to people, then she is all licks and tail wags.
She was never really into fetch. In fact I'm still trying to find a game she likes because so far the only thing she really likes is the cats squeaky mouse toy. I have only had her for 5 months.
Kids make her the most nervous so I keep them away from her at all times. I never thought of saying that she bites to keep people away from her, that's a good idea.

[xellil]

When someone comes by she will usually stay as far way from them as possible and lowers her head to her shoulder level. Just stares, ears up, no noises. If they ignore her and don't notice her at all she will walk closer and sniff. If they hold out a hand or move towards her, she moves away. Unfortunately she IS a husky and a beautiful one, so everyone wants to pet her. It takes about 3 visits for her to start warming up to people, then she is all licks and tail wags.
She was never really into fetch. In fact I'm still trying to find a game she likes because so far the only thing she really likes is the cats squeaky mouse toy. I have only had her for 5 months.
Kids make her the most nervous so I keep them away from her at all times. I never thought of saying that she bites to keep people away from her, that's a good idea.

You know, people can just be rude. I am amazed when we are out walking that parents will just stand there and let their kids run up to Rebel, who is a large Doberman weighing 115 pounds. What if he WAS snappy? They don't know he won't bite. Idiots.

I tried other stuff besides saying he'll bite because i hate for people to think my dog has a bad temper - please don't pet him blah blah blah. Especially kids. They can be nasty little brats. Threat of bodily harm was the only thing that did it for me.

My little dog looks so cute and cuddly and she is old and looks totally harmless so everyone wants to pet her. She WILL bite. She can't do any harm because she has so few teeth, but she does a pretty darn good Cujo impression when she feels threatened.

You know, it sounds to me like your dog isn't so terrified of people unless they invade her space. Honestly, I think if you just keep her moving when people are there and keep them away from her, she'll be less afraid that they are going to come up to her.

[whiteleo]

Do you know any of her history prior to owning her? She has a big mistrust of people and it could be because she was abused, is my guess.

[Liz]

I have a sheltie who doesn't like pretty much anyone but me. She is titled in two venues so will maintain her composure but will rarely approach anyone on her own. I take her everywhere with me. If she is showing distress like heavy panting, circling, pacing I put her on a sit stay and tell her to watch. In a moment she starts to calm. I also never let others pet or offer treats as this is something I know bothers her. When she is relatively calm and we are in a calm atmosphere I may stand her and allow a calm and quiet person to pet her. She is not ecstatic but remains calm. I never allow her to be mauled or pet by several people at once. I believe she has to trust that I can read her and will protect her from undue stress. I would love for her to be outgoing and bubbly but that is just not her so I am content with calm and confident. At home she is allowed to approach people at her own pace. I do nto let anyone grab for her or try to bribe her. She will usually start investigating on her own after five minutes or so and she is getting more and more inquisitive as time goes on. We have had her about a year and a half and she came to me this way. Her pups on the other hand are outgoing bordering on the outrageous - LOL Be patient and place your pups needs before peopel desire to pet him him. Some dogs are not very outgoing but if you gain his confidence in this area he will start to relax because he knows you will be running interference for him. JMHO

[lauren43]

Do you know any of her history prior to owning her? She has a big mistrust of people and it could be because she was abused, is my guess.

Although this is possible sometimes its part of their personality. I've known dogs brought up in good homes from a puppy on and are still fearful...

[Maxy24]

I wouldn't assume abuse, a lot of people tend to do that (when I told my friend how terrified of strangers my dog was she asked "what did you do to him?") but it could be socialization, could be genetics, and yeah, could be abuse. My dog has been this way since we got him at ten weeks old (he was born and raised in a foster home), so I put my bet on genetics.

In your case Tricia, I'd start giving people dog instructions when they come in. I mean it might seem a little ridiculous for you, since she's not dangerous as my dog is, but I would still do it. As people come in tell them your dog is really shy, tell them to ignore her, pretend she's not there. Tell them she may come up and sniff them and if she does they should STILL ignore her. Inform them that ignoring means no talking, touching, offering a hand to sniff, making eye contact, etc. A lot of people think you just mean no petting, and that's not the case, it's much more. Let them know this. The fact that she is interested in sniffing them is very encouraging, the dogs that seem REALLY hard to help are the avoidance ones. As much as my dog's behavior feels worse, with the aggression and all (in fight or flight situations he chooses fight, just his personality), I feel like I make progress with him in every stranger session that people with "run and hide" dogs don't achieve for years.

I feel like if your dog can be more fully ignored by strangers she will make real progress, she just sounds suspicious and wants to be able to safely investigate the guests without worrying about them trying to do anything to/with her. When I first started working with Tucker I had people trying to throw treats or I'd feed him treats while playing LAT or something (I still do it on walks, but he's way too over threshold in the house) but it would make him more reactive because if people threw treats he felt they were paying him too much attention and if I fed him treats he hated taking his attention away from the stranger to take the treat. This would result in him taking the treat and then seeing "something" (usually he imagines it) out of the corner of his eye in the direction of the stranger and turning and barking at them again. Then he'd choke on the treat and it was just a mess. Giving him completely uninterrupted time to investigate the newcomer is the only thing that allows him to calm down and make progress.

So make your guests aware that you are training your dog and they have instructions to follow. If they don't want the dog sniffing them then keep her on a leash. On walks don't let people pet him but ALWAYS carry treats to reward her for staying calmly by your side and play "Look at that" mark and reward her every time she looks at the stranger so she sees the stranger as a training prop, an opportunity to earn treats without any stress of social interaction.