Still not warming up to people easily

[pyrotech]

I'm starting to lose hope that Snooch will let strangers pet her. When we're out on a walk, or she's free to play on a leash, she doesn't mind being around people, as long as they're not paying attention to her. But if someone is facing her, offering her a treat, or trying to pet her (especially when they're trying to pet her), her tail is so far between her legs that it doesn't look like she has one. She'll growl and bark if they come any closer, and will come stand behind my legs and shake. Poor girl is frightened to death.

As a bit of a back story, I've taken her to 2 trainers. Once was to puppy class when she was about 10 weeks, and she was freaked out of all the people in the room. The trainer there told me that this puppy had been abused. She had a few minor scars on her legs and some on her back, but I had assumed they were from littermates, being as she was so scared when I got her from the shelter. She was only 8 weeks old when I got her though, so I thought, how abused could she have been? Who would abuse an 8-week-old or younger? Anyway, she would run and play with the other puppies, and LOVES playing with other dogs, but if a puppy would go to its master, Snooch would not go near that pup again until the pup went away from the person. She would not accept treats from the trainer or anyone else in the room except for me. I thought it was obvious, I wasn't taking her out enough to socialize her. So I began then, and took her everywhere with me. The only thing is, she still didn't want to be around anyone else. It took her about 4 or 5 days to warm up to me to let me pet her, and took having a few friends stay a few nights at my place before she would warm up to them a little.

A couple months after puppy class, and with lots of training, she has become very obedient, listens well, and is an all-around great dog. However, she was still very scared of anyone I would bring her around, or bring to my home to see her in a calmer setting, so I decided to bring her to another trainer for obedience class, hoping for suggestions as to what else we could do. He told me similar to what the first trainer had; that this pup had been hit. Okay, I thought, but not much I can do about that now, let's get her some confidence and instill trust in her over time. Everything we tried to get her to enjoy being around the people there at the training place was unsuccessful. We tried ignoring her and letting her take treats, we tried having me give her the treat if she let someone else pet her, we tried getting her to sit and stay (since she was really good at that) and trying to pet her while I gave her a treat, we tried having me hold her while others pet her. The only one she didn't run away from is when I held her to let others pet her. But even then, she would duck her head down any time a hand got near her, and would be shaking the entire time.

Fast forward a few months. She's 8 months now, and is still about the same way, only now she barks if people get near her. I go camping with her almost every weekend with various sized groups. Some weekends I take her skydiving with me and she hangs out at the hangar. She is more content hiding in her kennel or under a cabinet than coming out to be social unless I'm right there by her side. We've been to this particular hangar about 7 times now, staying Friday - Sunday each time, so she is definitely seeing familiar faces. She is still afraid of them, however. A couple of people there told me last weekend when we were down there that they notice she's gotten a little better, but I haven't seen it. She went to someone there and accepted a treat, and isn't flat-out running from people anymore; she's just overly-cautious and still makes sure to stay away. However, someone went to try to pet her last weekend, and she snapped at the air a bit. I think it was a warning, but the owner of the hangar (used to train dogs professionally) said that since she's not showing teeth and backed up as she snapped at the air, it means she won't bite? I don't buy it.

I took her with me to visit family several weeks ago, and we stayed at my parents' house for a week. After about 3 days of non-stop interaction with my folks, she loved them. She even went up to my dad and put her paws in his lap for him to pet her. I'm sure she noticed the bond I have with my family being different than that of my friends, but I still hug and show affection to my friends as well. Maybe she just notices a more relaxed pattern with my family to let her know she's okay and safe or something; I'm not really sure. I'm still a little confused on that.

But at this point, I'm afraid that if she's snapping at air (she's done it twice in her life since I've had her), she may take the next step and bite someone. I can't keep her if she does that. Should I try the muzzle? I can't afford to keep bringing her to training sessions if it's not going to help her trust people. I'm not even sure that would be the best route to take to instill trust in her, whereas I see it as her just needing to grow out of it. I just don't know what else I can do at this point but wait it out and continue getting her to see that nobody is going to hurt her. Is this the best I can do though? I've been told that when I get her fixed (she still hasn't had first heat yet, but I think it's coming very soon given her age), it may help her out, but she's been doing this since I got her 6 months ago, so it's not like it's only because she may be in heat soon.

Sorry for the book; I'm just confused as to what I can do for her.

[BigBrownDog]

I had a dog with a similar temperament. Here is what I think. Behavior in a dog, like people, is a combination of nurture and nature. If you have a dog who had bad experiences you may be able to repair the associated behavioral issues with positive conditioning, training and socializing. If you have a dog whose behavior is genetically influenced (which is not typical but happens) you have to learn to manage her effectively.

Part of that is making sure that she is comfortable and not feeling stressed or threatened. I would never, in a million years, have been able to leave my dog in a hanger among strangers while I was gone. She'd have had a psychotic break. Similarly, I never kenneled her or brought her to large gatherings of strangers (like fairs). I knew what she could deal with and what she could not.

I would (if you can afford it) get a behaviorist to consult on her. There are things you can do to manage this and grow her confidence and ability to cope socially, but in my opinion you are probably not going to end up with an outgoing dog.

My dog, after a lot of work, grew to have a reasonably large circle of trusted people/dogs and she acted friendly and normal around them (and was completely wonderful with small children and babies). She had no use at all for strangers however (never snappy - just very standoffish) and was quite bad with strange dogs. She was not a dog park girl ever.

I accepted her as the dog she was and in many ways she was quite a remarkable dog.

[pyrotech]

I see. Thanks, BBD. I've looked into local behavior specialists, and there are a few that are about a 2-hr drive away, so I may end up taking her there to see if there are other things we can try. Snooch LOVES dog parks, but only to play with other dogs. I guess I'll get used to the fact that she doesn't like people. And if she doesn't want to be pet, I'm okay with that; I just wish she weren't frightened when other people came around. She seems pretty content with being around others at the hanger as long as she feels safe, either in my lap or in her kennel. It may be mean of me or inappropriate, but the way I see it with the types of activities I do, she needs to learn to get used to being around people one way or the other. Either she can learn to be a bit more social at the hangar and learn that nobody is going to harm her, or she can stay in her kennel while she's there, you know? I guess only time will tell at this point.

[BigBrownDog]

If you have to leave her in the hangar, I would make sure that her crate was covered (unless it is already a plastic travel crate which is pretty enclosed to begin with). The covering (sheet is fine) will make her feel safer.

Good luck with the behaviorist eval.

[pyrotech]

Oh yeah, her kennel is covered with one of her small throws. I leave the bottom part of her gate uncovered so she can at least see what's going on, and she does like to look out the uncovered part to see when I'm back. There are usually 2 or 3 other dogs around as well, and she likes running and playing with them when they're in a playful mood. When the other dog(s) are resting or napping though, she usually retreats back to her kennel.