Nervous of men

Clover is about 8 months now and I have found that she is very nervous of men. Shes an absolutel diamond with all kids she meets and is fine with females. If she meets a man she isnt at all agressive, but is very submissive and cowers. She's absolutely fine with my other half but any guy she doesnt know, she seems afraid of and will cower and hide behind my legs. I don't know how to get her out of this habit as I dont know that many men that I could solicise her with. Any ideas on what I can do to help with this? Many thanks

Not sure have you had her from a pup?

Yeah, I've known her from the very day she was born!!!

She's very well socialised as she comes on the school run with me everyday and there are lots of ppl there but obviously most of those are women so I suppose shes not really had lots of contact with men other than my other half, my brother and the guy that owned her mum and dad.

Not too sure. Would like to put it down to a phase and maybe get your oh to socialise with her more, maybe do the feeding (if he doesn't already) so she gets more used to males. Scrumps (my first) had a real opposition to Oriental people and daker skinned people. Never new why but she just would bark and bark, was very embarresing.

Maybe it is their size is she ok if they come down to her level ?

She's better if they get down very low to the ground but still very wary. She's even peed a little sometimes.

My other dog isnt very friendly with people that she doesnt know so I'm wondering if maybe this behaviour has come from that? Although Roxie isnt exactly wary of people, shes just aggrestive towards them. Not sure why this is as she is a rescue dog.

They do pick up on each others moods , feelings well my 2 do Lady does not like cats and Milly is copying her now when we see one so it could be that

Are you a little nervous around men? stranger men? Dogs have a funny way of feeding off of our energy and they tend to over exaggerate. Try not to allow her to hide or cower so she wont feed her own nervousness, bring her out from behind your legs and have her sit and repeat nice and calmy until she relaxes.

Claire has a good point there.

Are you a little nervous with men you don't know? I know that when I had Bandit, and even now, with Dempsey, anyone I feel a bit unsure of gets the dog into a protective state, and Dempsey especially will growl & bark at them.

As yours is female and very young she may not feel confident enough to protect you, and so it comes out as fear/submission.

If you notice her looking apprehensive, take a few deep breaths yourself, stay calm & give her something else to think about - do a little training or just give her a few pats. Don't try to be sympathetic, though, as this will feed her fear, try to act as normally as possible.

At the school, are there any male teachers you could approach, and ask them to just stand next to her for a while? She may start to espond if the men don't actually touch her or you, and are therefore not posing a threat.

Caryll wrote:Claire has a good point there.

Are you a little nervous with men you don't know? I know that when I had Bandit, and even now, with Dempsey, anyone I feel a bit unsure of gets the dog into a protective state, and Dempsey especially will growl & bark at them.

As yours is female and very young she may not feel confident enough to protect you, and so it comes out as fear/submission.

If you notice her looking apprehensive, take a few deep breaths yourself, stay calm & give her something else to think about - do a little training or just give her a few pats. Don't try to be sympathetic, though, as this will feed her fear, try to act as normally as possible.

At the school, are there any male teachers you could approach, and ask them to just stand next to her for a while? She may start to espond if the men don't actually touch her or you, and are therefore not posing a threat.

I wouldnt say I was particularly nervous around men. Hmm, maybe it is a vibe I'm giving off though :S

My youngest daughters teacher is actually a man, so I might see what he says. Thanks for the suggestions

Let us know how you get on.

Caryll wrote:Let us know how you get on.

I will, thank you