I Ended up adopting an american Staffordshire terrier after my oldest son took him from a man who had been using him as a bait dog in a fighting ring. at the time the dog was maybe 8 months old. My son tried very hard to help him, but his inexperience and limited time (first time dad with a 6 month old) made it very hard for him, and that only increased the dogs fear level.

When my son and his family needed to move in with us I was very worried about the dog (squirt yes there is a story behind his name), I already have a Belgian mal who has been trained as a service dog, and was very worried that squirt would be a huge problem.

Well, after letting them bring him with them I began to see that it was not so much the dog as it was my son and my grandson. My son would scream at the dog constantly, and my grandson would hit the dog, and when the the dog would respond with a growl my son would hit him.

I was mortified! I put my foot down from day one, and two months latter my son and family moved out leaving squirt with me. Ok this is where the name story comes in.

the first day after they left the poor dog was lost and layed in the living room corner for hours. Each time I would come into the room he would curl himself into a ball and piss all over everything! couldn't help it he was so scared of everything. If I got too close he would snap at me. Around ten pm that night I was trying to figure out a way to get him to come to the bedroom that at least has hard wood floors. Well after pissing on everything again I just looked at him and said "listen ya little squirt I am going to bed and you are coming with me." Well it took a couple of min for him to follow but he did and the name stuck.

He has been with me now for 18 months and has come so far since that day.he follows commands well, sit stay come, lay down, get BOBO, ect, and is no longer food agressive. He is so loving and gentle and loyal. he picked up on the things that my service dog would do so he could get treats too. He is protective of me, and my family, and that has been a problem. He gets so scared when someone he doesn't know comes near him well, he does not pee as bad, but still cowers behind me.

He is difficult to walk because of his fear, any noise scares him, and if he sees another dog he just drops to the ground and whimpers. He gets along great with my Mal, and they play together, but he is terrified of other dogs. Is there anything I can do to help him with this?

He is especially fearful if something gets behind him, this is when he is most likely to snap, or if someone is standing over him while raising their voice.

I know he will never bee 100% but he really does deserve as normal a life as I can give him! There has not been a trainer in my area that will even consider working with him. they have all said the same thing, put him down. I can't do that. he has never drawn blood even in fear and has only bitten two people me and my husband and that was only in the beginning.

He loves his BOBO (stuffed toy) and carries it with him everywhere even sleeps with it like a security blanket. I think I have taken him as far as I know how to, what else can I do? I want him to be happy and not be afraid to leave the house for walk. or worry that one of my teenage boy's friends might get bit cause they scared him.

I love this dog! He is smart, and the dumbest duffus at the same time, and he is so loving when he is not scared. I am willing to give him up only if I know he is going to go to someone who can help him and will love him like I do, other wise he will stay with me for the rest of his life. Please if you have any ideas that could help us let me know.

It sounds to me like he is going to be your dog, Sharie. Sounds like he has picked you for his owner already.
Look at the free Marker Training Podcast. I bet if your dog knew some commands (that you could teach with the marker training) he would be much better in the squirt department. Start with small things like "sit" and see if you can make progress.

I believe that a strong pack leader is the greatest gift possible to a fearful dog.

I do see a potential POV problem:
"He is protective of me, and my family, and that has been a problem."

First: no he isn't. To be blunt, this is a very common misconception, often about dogs who are reactive, fearful, anxious, resource-guarding, etc. It's best to get rid of the notion that he is protecting you or your family so you can work on what's really happening. So can you describe the problem you mention in the above quote?

How much interaction does the dog have with your teenage son's friends? My POV is that at this stage of the game, the right answer is zero. The dog is probably stressed by naturally rambunctious teenage boys even if they don't tease him or try to elicit some kind of response from him or try to "train" him.

Can you describe the scenario in which someone comes up behind him and startles him?



"He gets so scared when someone he doesn't know comes near him well, he does not pee as bad, but still cowers behind me. ..... if someone is standing over him while raising their voice."

As his pack leader, it's your job to keep him out of either situation. Not only does it eliminate the fear in a direct way, but it strengthens his perception that he has a protector between him and the scary world.

I would not allow anyone to approach him, never allow anyone to loom over him, and in fact pre-instruct everyone coming to the house that the rule is no talk, no touch, no eye contact (famous words from Cesar Millan, but an old and valuable rule when desensitizing fearful dogs to visitors). If someone was coming whose behavior I couldn't rely on, I would have the dog crated in another room.

About the walks: are there a lot of dogs in your neighborhood? Does he react only to dogs who approach, or bark, or what? Does he react even to a glimpse of a leashed dog from a distance?

Meanwhile, how is he getting exercise?

Betty has made a really valuable suggestion. Marker training is a huge confidence builder. Do you know anything about it?

PS
Obviously, you are doing a lot right, from the dog's progress in 18 months. He is very fortunate that he found you (or vice versa).

My fearful boy Einstein got to the point of growling at people before my parents realized it was a problem and allowed me to attend an obedience class with him. He already knew obedience commands and so the trainer helped me a lot with his fear rather than commands. I ended up "making a deal" with him. Do what I ask(sit by my side) and I will control the situation and not let anybody hurt or scare you. At first I asked people to completely ignore him while I gave rewards for neutral behavior or interest. Just him not trying to lean back or get away from the person was good at first. Then we progressed to people giving him a treat by dropping it and then walking away. Then they threw his ball for him, then they handed him a treat, then they touched him and gave a treat, then they gave him eye contact(scary for him), walked up from behind keeping their distance, walked up from behind getting closer, etc.

Each individual step took probably about a week. You're looking at a few months at the very least of work. Einstein and I visited dog friendly places at least 4 days a week but most often daily. The most important thing is for you to control all interactions between people and your dog. He needs to see that you are in charge of the situation. Don't be afraid to just walk away from people who are going to cause trouble. Luckily the people in the obedience class and the store employees were perfectly willing to just hang out and let Einstein get comfortable enough to start sniffing or initiating some contact. Some people prefer that other people never give a reward to their dog. Einstein was very much a dog who is quite happy to stick with his own pack so I wasn't worried about that.

It's hard work but your dog can come out of it a fairly normal dog if it's nerves allow for that. Einstein even got his CGC which meant he had to allow a complete stranger to handle parts of his body.

Forgot to mention the most important part. Einstein was NEVER allowed to growl at somebody without getting corrected for it. It needed to be crystal clear that growling and hiding behind me were unacceptable and if he was uncomfortable he needed to just deal with it and trust me. At the same time I had to make sure that I wasn't moving too fast or he would start to shut down. A sharper dog sometimes will snap at people if they are pushed too hard or too fast.

Einstein was a very clear headed dog though. Some dogs will treat a correction as if it came from the person scaring them.

While that growling rule worked for you, I'd recommend to the O.P. (and others) that it's not generally wise to correct for growling in this situation. Far better to work on the fear/stress/anxiety growling-trigger, IMO.

Correcting a fearful dog for growling can result in a dog who just snaps or outright bites with no warning, having lost his warning tool. Not good.

You'd better really know what you're doing and be good at dog demeanor and body language if you're going to correct a fearful dog for growling. JMO.

ETA
I didn't mean to suggest that very solid obedience isn't excellent with a fearful dog, Cathy. Not at all. Just that correcting a fearful dog for growling at others isn't a good general suggestion.

JMO. I'm sure others will comment too.

Ditto with Connie!
The dog is growling out of stress. Getting physical is only going to elevate that stress and like Connie said, the dog will learn to avoid what triggers the correction (growl) and go right to the nip/bite. That's one of the primary reasons dogs get the bad rap of being handler aggressive. It learns that it's going to get corrected for the growl so why not skip the display and go for it.
Keep the dog's mind occupied with obedience. If the dog gets distracted by someone then it's getting corrected for refusing the command, NOT for the stress growling at the distraction.

 Quote: Bob Scott

... Keep the dog's mind occupied with obedience. If the dog gets distracted by someone then it's getting corrected for refusing the command, NOT for the stress-growling at the distraction.

Oh, that's a really good point .... the ob is all.

That obedience can be as simple as a sit with focus.
This is good when meeting and greeting.
Again, the correction is for non compliance to the sit and/or the focus. DEFINITELY mark and reward for correct behavior! The dog has to know there are two sides to the coin.

 Quote: bob scott

The dog has to know there are two sides to the coin.

I don't think I worded it very well in my first post but this is exactly why Einstein was corrected for growling or trying to hide with a verbal "no". No hard leash corrections or anything like that involved but I needed him to realize that a neutral body language "sit" at my side was the correct behavior and avoidance/threat displays was the wrong one. I made it a simple black and white situation for him.