Showing Fearful Behavior

[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.