# Stranger danger!



## MercyMom (Dec 19, 2011)

Oh man! I can see why you're worried! I have fears too, what if what I see happening in my Golden makes her unsuitable for therapy work. It can be disheartening, but I think with confidence boosting training, your dog can overcome his fears.


----------



## ally1h (Nov 27, 2012)

I love my goofball, no matter what! Even if he doesn't become a therapy dog he will still be loved and spoiled rotten. And when I get my second golden I will have another opportunity to train a therapy dog if he doesn't quite fit the bill for therapy work.

But other than the wariness of some strangers he would be perfect for therapy work. So how would you suggest I go about trying to get him to overcome his fears? As I said, I didn't slack off with socialization. It's an ongoing process, obviously.


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Dancer (Apr 5, 2010)

You know, the only dog I've had who does that is Fuzzy! I also did not/do not skimp on socializing him, but on 2 occasions now he's 'made strange' with ppl. I wonder if it wasn't coming from my feelings of unease about these ppl though? The worst one was a man with a rifle who showed up when we were camping and my husband had left to go somewhere. Fuzzy, Steve and I were in the campsite alone when this guy turned up. He was out hunting, but made me uneasy and Fuzzy circled him at a distance barking and sniffing the air at him. Then Fuzzy came and stood beside me, growling at him! I was shocked- he's the happiest, goofiest young dog in the world, a typical golden boy if there ever was one! He had to be getting it from my own nervous energy. 
Is it possible that it's a similar scenario for you? You're concerned about how your dog will behave around some ppl and the dog interprets that as you being concerned about those ppl, and reacts accordingly? 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Colie CVT (Sep 15, 2013)

My Myles is a good example of a dog who for unknown reasons seems to have the same issue lol. However my boy isn't one to growl or bark, much at all. He has done it a few times when we were at the dog park, but generally speaking he is more the type to back off and hide behind me. 

Up until he was about 8ish months old, he was the friendliest boy you'd ever meet! He would go up to anybody and everybody. I worried that he'd be one of those dogs who loves everyone so much that he'd go with anybody lol. I'm not sure what happened, but one day it was suddenly like, everyone was scary. There was no rhyme or reason behind it. While he was still happy to meet new people where I work, and seems to think if you're in scrubs or a lab coat that you're awesome, anyone else in the world was another story. 

It's been years of working with him on it, I'll be honest. However, he's much, MUCH better than he was! It took a lot of desensitizing him to things and a lot of positive reinforcement. And most recently, having a second dog who is extremely friendly and willing to say hello to anyone. He was afraid of people on bikes, skateboards, rollerskates. Strollers were scary. Kids! Omg kids. That one is a lack of socializing on my part. I don't have kids, my friends don't have kids. So while he's curious about them and will engage them after a period of time (and them being calmer and older), boy they're the scariest!

What I did with Myles was a lot of walking on our greenbelt and going to petsmart/petco/etc places with him. When there was a person coming, I would step off of the greenbelt with Myles, get him to sit and focus on me and reward him for not reacting. Or if they came around, while we were walking, I distracted him with a treat and rewarded him for minimal reactions (basically if he watched calmly and didn't try to bolt, he was rewarded). In the stores I used a game that someone told me about that they used with a fearful dog. She would often catch people coming near her and her dog before the dog and would excitedly say "LOOK!" and pop a treat into her mouth. 

I'll admit that I was skeptical. However, when I saw Myles getting nervous in a store, I would do the same thing. And now honestly he's a lot more relaxed. He won't always engage people, but he will walk past without trying to drag me forward or run suddenly. With small groups of people, he's relaxed and friendly. We do large group hiking with a lot of dogs and people now. He takes a hike or two, but he warms up to people he sees regularly, and we keep working on ignoring strangers or having them offer him a treat. Myles is VERY food motivated, and he knows what places often have food. 

With my luck, something I accidentally did likely something to reinforce that people were scary. We had some good breakthroughs today with kids even! He was sitting near me as a mother with her 4ish year old daughter was walking around us. He stayed calm, just turning his head to follow her so I kept saying "YES" a lot following it with cookies lol. Which lead to later on the way to the car from the market, him walking right past a young girl who did make a happy sound that normally sends Myles into a panicked run without missing a beat! 

Baby steps and lots of rewards! ^_^ I wouldn't give up just yet!


----------



## ally1h (Nov 27, 2012)

Hmmm... I hadn't thought about being nervous being transferred to him being nervous. I get wary now whenever we are on walks about him getting nervous. He is a beautiful dog and attracts a lot of attention. I suppose my general wariness of him potentially showing this side of him could be contributing to the problem. But I am hardly ever nervous when meeting people in general. My profession is meeting new people and working with them on a personal level. 

I definitely won't give up with his training and will keep trying to figure this out. I am, I suppose, mostly confused about why he does it in some situations versus others. Like someone mentioned above, the only thing he may not be well socialized with is children. In alaska in the middle of winter, and without anyone I know with kids, he never received much socialization. BUT, with kids he appears mostly over curious. Goes right up to them and sniffs them, tries to take their backpacks... Etc. So it seems like he is only nervous with adults. But I can't figure out if it's more men vs women, or if it's only situation dependent (ie: does it while on walks versus off leash in the park), or what. 

I am a bit heartened to hear this can happen in goldens, even if it isn't common! 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------

