Is your dog afraid of strangers who immediately approach him to pet him?
Did your dog have a traumatic experience in the past?
Did your dog had contact with other people when he was a puppy?
Some people don't know how to act around a dog. They might look a dog straight in the eye, approach, or pat them too directly or immediately challenge the dog to play. If a dog is a bit uncertain, they might perceive this all as threatening or dominating behavior. Slowly build up contact with new people, but always let your dog stay in control of the situation.
If an unpleasant experience happens to a puppy at the hands of a stranger, the dog can carry this fear around for the rest of their life. This can be something very serious such as abuse, but can also a simple incident - such as a loud bang just when a stranger was with the puppy. Slowly build up contact with new people, but always let your dog stay in control of the situation.
Socialising is the healthy development of social behavior towards different people, new dogs, and situations. If a dog hasn't had much contact with strangers or certain types of people from a young age, they may become unfamiliar and fearful of new people. To reduce fear, your dog needs confidence. Slowly build up contact with new people, but always let your dog stay in control of the situation.
Some dogs might be genetically predisposed to anxiety, if, for instance, they have inherited this trait from their parent. Some breeds are known to be boisterous and outgoing, whereas other breeds are known to be shy.
https://www.thesprucepets.com/dogs-and-fear-of-strangers-1117882
https://www.pawshake.com.au/blog/why-my-dog-afraid-strangers
Sreten null
Hi! I’m Sreten Filipović. I graduated from the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Belgrade, with a master's degree in Environmental Protection in Agricultural Systems. I’ve worked as a researcher at Finland's Natural Resources Institute (LUKE) on a project aimed at adapting south-western Finland to drought episodes. I founded a consulting agency in the field of environment and agriculture to help farmers who want to implement the principles of sustainability on their farms. I’m also a founding member of the nonprofit organization Ecogenesis from Belgrade whose main goal is non-formal education on the environment and ecology. In my spare time, I like to write blog posts about sustainability, the environment, animal farming, horticulture, and plant protection. I’ve also published several science-fiction short stories.
You can find me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/sreten-filipovi%C4%87-515aa5158/
