Dude..6mth old stray from rescue

Hi, Just after a bit of advice. i have taken on a 6mth old stray staffy who I have called Dude. He is an absolute star with me and my daughter and in the house. he has been fine with my cat and with my other (much bigger) dogs. he is quite submissive. The problem i am having is that he is very nervous. Of everything really but especially men. My partner comes and Dude goes from being happy and settled to running around trying to find places to hide. If stuart approaches him (with or without treats) he growls and runs and trys to hide behind my legs. He is the same with my 19yr old son. And if I take him for a walk he is the same with everyone he meets. He is a really quiet, well behaved lad and i really want him to change peoples opinions on staffys.....but what is the best way to go about socialising him with people? He is great with other dogs. He is entire at the moment but will be neutered next month. I have toyed with the idea of a thundershirt or a DAP collar.........

Maybe he was traumatised by man. You need to build positive association so he learns that their arrival means good news for him you should demonstrate you are happy when their coming: laugh and show him that you are happy with them with clear body language and make him give him treats, give him toys and when he's calmer they can take him for a walk. I would also let them feed him. Don't forget it's very early days and you don't know his background .

when any man (or woman out of the house) tries to stroke him or feed him treats or makes eye contact with him he growls and tries to back off.do i ignore that or try and correct him? i dont want him to think growling gets him what he wants (them backing off) but neither do i want him to feel threatened. xx

Do not correct him!! Also don't let people approach him for now, he needs to be approaching them. If he runs and hides, let him, he is using coping strategies before showing any aggression. The growl is through fear. He doesn't need to be meeting lots of people at the moment, reward him for calm behaviour when people are at a distance (with a treat) cross the road if there are people walking towards you. Baby steps. If you push him at this stage it could lead to aggression. With your the men in your house, they need to ignore him but very calmly and gently reward when he does choose to approach them. Poor thing glad he's in a nice home now!

thanks.....i dont have a photobucket account but this is the link to his facebook page if u want to see some pictures...
https://www.facebook.com/staffydude?fref=ts

Maybe use your other dogs and get your partner and son to interact with them, play with them, etc. and include Dude gradually. Hopefully Dude will take his cue from the other dogs and see there's nothing to fear.

Baby steps I think. Take your time with this, sounds like he is very nervous of men and needs time to readjust.

We use to have a similar problem with out female english springer spaniel who we adopted when she was 2, she use to wet her self when men came near her and was veey submissive with other dogs so we had to get her spayed, try getting your male friend to interact with him with toys a squeakyone preferably. Hope this helps

Thanks everyone. Its still only day 4 so i'm not too worried yet. Dude takes himself off to his cage where he obviously feels safe when stuart is in the house but hopefully over the next few weeks he will get better. My other 3 dogs love stuart so i am sure dude will too at some point x

Ok...so we are on day 7 and dude is still terrified of stuart even tho he doesnt look at or speak to him. He just takes off to his cage shaking and growling...other thsn that he is doing brilliantly well!! Hes an absolute star. I cant wait for stuart to get to see him in the way i do...funny and loving. He just jas to look at the pictures on dudes personal facebook page ha

Does Stuart feed him? Or hand out treats? May be useful to offer some non invasive interaction with something positive.

He tried. But he wont rat anything while stuart is here

*eat* not rat!

Don't feed him rats

Love his FB page

Ha ha ha......but rats are his favourite thing

Thanks....hes such a star i thought he deserved his own page

Have you tried taking him out for a walk with Stuart? Eventually letting him hold the lead? Might help gain his trust?

We havent yet. Might give it a go tho. I have put an old t shirt of stuarts in his bed to see if that helps...but he hasnt been near his bed since ha maybe it would be easier to get a new bloke!!!

Hope it helps and yeahh that might work :-) and haha before you know it dude and stuart will be the best of friends

Fingers crossed!!

Just take things slowly and hopefully things will fall into place, love his face book page, luckily Dude has a loving home now

Beautiful staffie, so lucky to have a new loving home; sounds like he has had a bad experience with males (sadly not alone there). Slowly slowly and hopefully good interactions will result.

Hi. Just a bit of an update on Dude. He is doing great....i have had him 3 weeks now. He is still really scared of men....but if i sit next to stuart at night Dude will also come and sit with us. Stuart can then stroke him providing he doesnt look at or talk to him but this is a massive step forward. Its just going to be slow i think. His fb page is coming along now too

Great news, he's going to be a star !

Not very happy with me today tho cos hes gone for his furry plums removing!!

So pleased he's making good progress Jane. Have to say I winced when I read about his vets visit

Ha ha...hes home and none the worse for wear. Keeping him quiet an the cone on his head for 10 days is goin to be hard work tho!!

Keeping any Staff calm is a nightmare

The neutering went well. Its all done now and the stitches are out. He is a proper little star. The easiest, quietest, calmest puppy i have ever had!! Still no joy with stuart unfortunately but he just ignores any growling. I can sometimes tempt him into coming and sitting on the sofa with us both tho so thats an improvement...even tho dude sits as close to me and as far from stuart as possible ha.

https://www.facebook.com/staffydude?fref=ts

Aww bless him, hopefully given time he will eventually see that Stuart is no threat and become friends

Aww just checked out and liked his FB page, loving his updates too!! hope hes slowly getting better with hubby.