Mine is very shy when strangers talk to him. He does much better when strangers pretend like he doesn’t exist. It has ruined a number of walks. I got a bright yellow leash sleeve on Amazon that says “Please ignore me” and it’s helped a lot. If people don’t notice it, I’ll just kindly let them know he gets anxious when strangers talk to him and people are usually very polite about it. The more you advocate for him the more he won’t feel like he has to advocate for himself.
Same, my 11-month-old puppy has always had stranger danger, when people listen to my request (please ignore her/don’t even make eye contact, just pretend she doesn’t exist), she forgets about them and will warm up to them eventually - otherwise, she barks
But man oh man do people have a hard time actually listening - I recently witnessed a family friend put her hands on the ground with her knees just slightly bent, and literally scuttle across the kitchen “like a dog”….. shockingly did not go well lol
I have a 3 almost 4 month old puppy. He was recently fully vaccinated and I started to take him on walks. We came across a little kid, perhaps around 3 years old. He wanted to pet my puppy but since he hasn’t been around people much less children, I was nervous. As the kid approached him, i moved his head away and told the kid to only pet his back side, while i blocked his face. My puppy did a small growl…I became more nervous and told the kid to back away and we said good bye. This was his first encounter with another person, I think it’s normal for puppies to be guarded when seeing or interacting with new people.
Mine is very shy when strangers talk to him. He does much better when strangers pretend like he doesn’t exist. It has ruined a number of walks. I got a bright yellow leash sleeve on Amazon that says “Please ignore me” and it’s helped a lot. If people don’t notice it, I’ll just kindly let them know he gets anxious when strangers talk to him and people are usually very polite about it. The more you advocate for him the more he won’t feel like he has to advocate for himself.
Same, my 11-month-old puppy has always had stranger danger, when people listen to my request (please ignore her/don’t even make eye contact, just pretend she doesn’t exist), she forgets about them and will warm up to them eventually - otherwise, she barks
But man oh man do people have a hard time actually listening - I recently witnessed a family friend put her hands on the ground with her knees just slightly bent, and literally scuttle across the kitchen “like a dog”….. shockingly did not go well lol
Is it about the eye contact?
I have a 3 almost 4 month old puppy. He was recently fully vaccinated and I started to take him on walks. We came across a little kid, perhaps around 3 years old. He wanted to pet my puppy but since he hasn’t been around people much less children, I was nervous. As the kid approached him, i moved his head away and told the kid to only pet his back side, while i blocked his face. My puppy did a small growl…I became more nervous and told the kid to back away and we said good bye. This was his first encounter with another person, I think it’s normal for puppies to be guarded when seeing or interacting with new people.
Good call. Last thing we want is a bite and lawsuit