How to get your dog to be comfortable around strangers
Some dogs are afraid of strangers. They may react by
barking, growling, showing teeth or running away. In this post I will explain
how you can help your dog become comfortable around strangers in the house and
outside.
If you have a very young dog you can avoid all this just by exposing
him to different places and having him meet people and dogs. As much as you
expose your dog at an early age to different people, kids, noises and
environments, it is less likely that he will be fearful. With that said, there
is a genetic component to shyness and aggression. If you are getting a dog from
a breeder, try to get as much information as you can about his parents and the
dog’s siblings. Any indication of shyness or aggression in the parents or
siblings is a bad sign for your dog’s ability to become comfortable around
strangers.
For older dogs, the first thing you want to know is that
correcting your dog for growling or barking at people will only make things
worse. Your dog is worried or afraid and getting a correction will not make him
more confident next time.
We start the treatment by managing the environment. We will
be exposing our dogs to stimuli that they can cope with. Do not take your dog to crowded places,
and if you have people over, place him in a different room or preferably in his
kennel.
Our next step will be counter-conditioning the dog’s
reaction to people. Every time your dog meets a person and before he
reacts, give him a treat. You will need to ask people to ignore your dog and
not to try to pet him or call him. These actions put pressure on the dog and he
may start reacting to it. In time,
every occasion your dog meets a person he will be thinking about a reward
instead of barking.
You will find that your dog maintains a certain distance from
people, even those that he feels safe with. If a person approaches too close to
him, he will start barking. Our goal in training is to minimize this distance
until it finally disappears.
Once your dog is confident and stops barking at people
approaching him, we would like to increase his ease with contact with strangers.
At this stage you will hand the person working with you and your dog a few
treats and they will pet your dog with one hand while feeding him with the
other. The first few times they will need to avoid looking or speaking to the
dog. Gradually your dog will start associating strangers petting him with
treats and he will become calmer around people.
If you have a small dog and he barks at people when he is
sitting on your lap you will need to put him on the floor as soon as he starts
barking. Do not let him sit on your lap unless he is calm.
A few points that to remember:
- The older the dog, the slower the process is going to be.
- As always, timing is crucial in dog training. If your dog is already barking just ignore him or put him inside the house or in his kennel. Don’t reward him now but don’t correct him either.
- If you are worried that your dog may bite someone – put a muzzle on him. There are muzzles that you can feed treats through.
- If you are dealing with severe case of aggression your better option is to contact a local trainer that knows how to deal with aggression.
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