My dog isnt good with strangers, how can i help?
My dog isnt good with strangers, how can i help? Dogs Training Discussions
My 7 month old pup has never been abused. i have had him since 2 months. I have been taking him to puppy class where can experience being around people. He has been going for 4 months now. I walked him in town, around the neighbourhood, through crowds. He is absolutely fine when people are walking by him, his tail is high and he looks fairly confident. Even in busy city crowds he is fine. But the only problem is when men try to actually interact with him. I can see how this has developed, because we never really had many men come to visit, it was mostly friends and other mums and kids around our neighbourhood. He is exccellent with kids, so gentle and calm. With strange women, he will be cautious and keep his distance for a minute, but after a minute or so, he will approach tail wagging.When men try to interact with him, he gets very skttish and if they try to pet the top of his head, he will move away and sometimes bark, but he still comes back to investigate a few minutes later. It seems like he is very interested and inquisitive with new people, he WANTS to go and sniff them and check them out. But he just doesnt like it when they talk to him or try to pet him.How can i help him overcome this? I dont want to be forcing people to help me with my dog, as i know not all people like dogs or have the time. I looked online about intensive 2 week dog confidence courses, where the dog goes away for 2 weeks, but i dont know. Any help? If it helps, he is a Spanish Water Dog. They have a very 'stranger cautious' nature, it is a very typical breed trait, but i dont want him to fear strangers