I find this interesting. This dog started off normal and at 4 months old it starts acting this way.You say when he gets nervouse he looks for you and you say when he is stressed you will always be there for him. Do you pick this dog up and hold it when you think it is nervous? Does your dog expect to be picked up by you when it gets nervouse? Or does your dog get nervouse because you are not fussing over him? My only point being are you reinforcing this behavior with out realizing it? If that is the case you are crippling the dog by not allowing it to develop any self confidence. Now your thinking it might bite somebody if I dont. First off why is every body chasing the dog around trying to pet it. Id run too. All dogs are different and in this dogs case trying to make the dog enjoy being petted by every body is not the way to go. This is my suggestion. Put a bowl of treats at the door and whenever some one comes in(guest) have them give the dog a treat and come on in and ignore the dog after that. This will teach the dog to look forward to company and have no anxiety about them hanging around. If the dog at some point feels stress, let the dog deal with it on his own by going and laying down in its crate or whatever but I doubt it will feel stress if people are ignoring it.Company does not mean stress is what the dog should learn. If there are strange kids running around and you arent comfortable with that, put him up and let him watch from his crate. The dog has to develop some confidence at some point. If you just rescue the dog in these situations you and the dog become a unit against every one else and the dog will never develop any confidence on its own. This dog obviously needs confidence but it has to develope it you cant force it on the dog.

David,

yes, I think that after reading your post - we have been reinforcing some unwanted behaviours. I will keep a check on what we are doing with him.

Visiting kids always want to play with the pup, 'cos he is so cute etc. I will ask visitors to give a treat on arrival, then ignore for the rest of the time.

If he initiates the contact, is it OK for visitors to interact with him?

You need to just take it one step at a time. First step is getting the pup to not feel sressed in situations like you mentioned about having people over to your house.When the dog is at the point that it is glad to see new people arrive and can trot around the house confidently while they are there and can be near them with out any concerns then your problem will take care of its self because now you are dealing with a dog with a different attitude and not a dog you have taught to endure people. Like I said all dogs are different and alot of those Jacks are wound pretty tight and they are not the dog for alot people even though people seem to think they are until they get one.Like I said you are working on the dogs attitude and you can shape and mold that. Dont get in a hurry and turn it into another grease pig contest. Take it one step at a time.

Thank you David,

what you have said makes sense.

The way we were going, we were forcing him to put up with being petted by stangers & anyone else etc.

Our year old female is a very different matter, she just loves people to death!, so I guess we were a little taken aback when we got the little male - and his attitude was so different.

We will take it slowly.

With thanks