Showing Fearful Behavior

[WELOVESPUPPIES]

HELP!!! Most of you probably know Chopper fairly well with all his escapades and outtings. He has been very well socialized since we brought him home and was even socialized while at the breeders. He rides on the Harley quite often and has since he was 10 weeks. We try to take him everywhere possible so he gets out of the house almost once a week to a public place. My problem is lately I have noticed him becoming more fearful of strangers. He has been around strangers always. I always let others pet him and play with him and even hold him. For example last night we took him for a small ride. Got off at the dock where there were some fishermen and one bent down to call him, put his hand out but did not try to touch Chopper really just so Chopper could come to him and Chopper tucked his tail/butt up under his shoulders with bugging eyes and tried to get around to the other side of me. I have noticed this in the last couple of weeks with him, even in his own home he has all of a sudden decided he does not want to go near anyone he does not know. He never shows agression, no teeth or snapping, no growling. Just wants to run tail tucked and ears bent. He has not had any experiences that could have caused this. He has never been dropped by a stranger or startled in any way that I can think of. Do you have any suggestions on how to help him over come this fear? I don't want to make the problem worse and everyone on here is so awesome at giving suggestions so I am hoping someone can help us out. Thanks in advance.
Traci

[lvpets2002]

Oh Dear dear wittle Chopperss.. Whats wrong baby boy?? Maybe you just dont likes those strangers.. Give it time.. Maybe its just a wittle phase you going thruss..

[lizbud]

How old is Chopper now? There is a phase that pups go through where
they" realise" the differences between family and "others".Most can go
through this without problems if we don't over react to their fear.

[Giselle]

Maturing dogs will change personalities. If it doesn't show up at 6-9 months, it'll show up at 12-18 months. IMO, I've found that most dogs' temperaments do not settle until after 18-24 months.

I forget Chopper's age, but it's highly likely that he's going through another fear period. Just treat him as you would if he was a puppy. Exude calm confidence, ignore his fears, don't push him past his threshold, and counter condition the triggers (in this case, strange people) so that he associates strange folks with positive experiences. Hint: if strangers want to pet Chopper, give them a treat and tell them to toss the treat back to Chopper. That way, he doesn't have to approach them, but he still learns that strange folks = good!

[dreamparkingspace]

Hmm..My dog Tatum has always been afraid of strangers for whatever reason. Hector and Shawnee are both very social though and seem to love strangers. Not sure why it's different with Tatum. I mean, I know Tatum is part shar pei and that a shar pei's breed profile says it is "aloof towards strangers," but that doesn't explain how sometimes Tatum is excessively scared of strangers. I remember when I rescued Tatum my Mom and I were told that she was, "shy at first" which she is, but I've never understood why she warmed up to me immediately. Whenever a stranger goes to pet Tatum she will back up and put her head near my leg, yet as far as I know, she isn't a cruelty case or with an abusive past or anything like that. Miracuously when Tatum took the CGC she was very social during the part when a stranger had to pet her. Blah, anyway, if you carry treats you could always give one to the stranger to give to Chopper. Maybe go to a pet store one day and ask random people to pet Chopper so he warms up to strangers a little. I've done that with Tatum and had a little success

[WELOVESPUPPIES]

Chopper is now 16 months old. The only problem with having strangers give him treats is it will probably only work at home, as most times he will not eat a treat in a public place even from me. I guess will need to find something that he absolutely cannot resist and save it as the "special cookie" he receives from strangers only.

So if he backs away from people, with or w/o a treat, do I just walk away? I always felt that might teach him that if he acts scared I will remove him from the situation therefore making him think this behavior is okay. I always ignore his behavior, I never tell him it is okay or anything like that. No offence to any chi owners on here and I definitely hate steriotyping dogs because of their breed but that is how I feel people look at Chopper, like oh....typical chihuahua only likes his owner

Thanks everyone.

[Pam]

AWWW Chopper please don't be afraid of people. There is not a person on the planet that could ever resist your cuteness. We are all drawn to you like big ole magnets. Maybe he has been reading these threads and is fearful that Terry and I are coming to get him.

Seriously, I don't mean to make light of this Traci, because I know you are concerned. I think there is probably lots of truth to what Giselle says. That sounds like good advice to me. Interestingly, my dogs won't take treats from anyone out in public either.

[Cinder & Smoke]

Hopefully Chopper will quickly outgrow his fear of "strangers".

Not everyone knows it, but my Smokey arrived as a throw-away on our front porch
as an Abused Child with an irrational fear of all MEN - myself included.

Within a week, he had a short list of men-friends: Me, Unka Pat, and Doc Mike - end of list!
After a month, Fireman Donny and Pet Talker Mr. Ralph were added ...
and ever other of the male humans was to be feared and avoided.

It took over a year for Smokey to become trusting of "strange" men ...
and by age 3 he rarely showed any fear of strangers.
Let's hope Chopper warms up a little faster.

[Giselle]

If a dog doesn't take treats in public, there are two main reasons:
1) the treat isn't high value enough for the situation. Wheaty, floury biscuits may work well in the house, but you need something yummier for high-distraction environments.
2) the dog is too stressed and/or overwhelmed to eat. This ties in with #1.

Most dogs need time to adjust in their environment before they "come back down to earth". Many dogs refuse to drink because of reason #2, too. If Chopper refuses to eat and drink in public, #2 is probably the culprit.

If you really want to eradicate the behavior, take Chopper out to a public place and just sit there. Let him soak in everything and let him adjust to his surroundings. When he has reached a calmer mindset, you can start actively training him and asking strangers to toss him high value treats (i.e. boiled chicken, baked liver, crumbled beef, etc). P.S. A clicker works well for these situations!

[Pam]

If a dog doesn't take treats in public, there are two main reasons:
1) the treat isn't high value enough for the situation. Wheaty, floury biscuits may work well in the house, but you need something yummier for high-distraction environments.

That is true! I had forgotten that our instructor at obedience school said to bring something tasty like little pieces of hot dogs to class. Bella was not hesitant to eat them at all. LOL! At the vet's office or at the groomer, or even the drive-through at the bank, they offer dry floury biscuits.

[WELOVESPUPPIES]

I believe it could be related to anxiety as the normal place here that offers a treat is the vets office and he will not take them regardless of what kind they are. He loves bologna so I will cut up teeny tiny pieces of that and take them with me and have them offer that. I have never seen him turn down bologna. I guess I better take some wipes too so people can clean their hands afterwards LOL. I will definitely give this a try this weekend when we go out to the Harley dealer. Thanks for the advice.