Scooby was a rescue dog that we adopted when he was about a year old.  We didn’t realize that he wasn’t very socialized until about 6 months in.  He is nervous around new things.  This really came to light when my friend A P brought her daughter, M, over.  When she was a baby Scooby didn’t mind her so much, since she slept most of the time.  This changed when M became a screaming, arm thrashing, running toddler.

Scooby was fearful of her, which you could tell by his tail tucked and ear flattened position when she would run toward him.  He tried avoiding her at all cost so I took action by crating him until things calmed down a little.  It’s important to keep in mind that you don’t want to do anything that would make the dog associate bad things with children (such as hitting or yelling at the dog).  When I let him out he was a little bit more relaxed, though he still tried to avoid her.   I made sure to praise even the littlest bit of positive interaction between Scooby and M.

This past weekend we had my friends over to our new house.    We had A P , her husband and M over, as well as my friend L P and her boyfriend A.  It was clear that Scooby was intimidated by A.  He kept barking and backing up with his tail tucked and his ears flattened.  I tried to diffuse the situation by having A give Scooby a treat but A’s hand movements were threatening to Scooby.  It’s important to keep in mind that dogs have a different set of communication skills than humans have, but there are some similarities.  Each of us has a personal space bubble.   We allow those we know to stand closer or  touch us in friendly ways.  Dogs are they same way.

Here are some tips if you meet a dog that is fearful of you in someone’s home*:

• Don’t make direct eye contact with the dog
• Don’t stand full frontal to the dog
• Don’t raise your hand to the dog
• Don’t force contact, let the dog come to you

*Disclaimer:  These are my opinions and I am not to be held responsible if you try these techniques