Hello all,

I have a 6 month working line female that I have had for about 6 weeks. She has a high prey drive is a quick learner and generally confident and inquisitive. Sometimes when we walk we take her and my older very confident male. When we take them both Maya, my pup never seems unsure or strange with people. If I take her alone she is usually fine but occasionally will see something like a large boulder, garbage can, etc....and slowly approach with raised hackles. I will just tell her lets go see and thats fine and she will investigate and continue on. When she sees people she usually will just sniff, tolerate a pet or two and continue on. Today DH and I took her for a walk without the other dog and when we were walking down the street I noticed a man walking down his sidewalk toward the street with a floppy hat and football. I noticed Maya's hackles were raised, but nothing verbal from her. I thought maybe this was a good time to socialize so I asked him if I could introduce her to him. As we approached him she started barking with raised hackles and backed up. I know this is a sign of fear. I told her quiet and popped the leash. I gave him some chicked which he tossed to her and she did eat it. She then stopped barking and sniffed him and then just ignored him. Then another guy without a hat came out of the same house and she barked with raised hackles at him, but not backing up. I popped her and verbally corrected her and she stopped barking and went up to sniff him. We then went home and a few minutes later we went outside and these two guys were playing football in the open field next door. Maya ran over to them wanting to play ball chasing it back and forth as they threw it to each other. Both of the guys stopped and let her sniff the ball and petted her and she was fine with that. Sooooooooo, my questions are...should I have just let her walk on by and not bothered introducing her to these guys?? Should I start always bringing my confident male so she never has a negative reaction to anyone? On the other hand I want to have her confidence built up not being dependent on him. Should I start hanging out at basketball courts so she always associates guys with fun things like BALLS (lol).? Any advice would be appreciated!! Thanks for reading this long one.....

Can't answer most of your questions but if it helps-I had a similar situation with a female dog with was extremely socialized around the same age as yours act like that. Dogs sense things from smells and body language that we probably don't even notice. For instance, the smell and actions of someone under the influence of alcohol or drugs. I bet that is really odd and noticeable to a dog. I believe that is the reason my dog showed the same reaction you describe to a man that she had never seen before, but who I knew was drunk. I removed her from the situation since I figured that was the reason for her behavior and she has never shown it again.

Maybe your dog is somewhat traumatized from her situation and the others following just reinforced her uneeded spookiness. I'd socialize her around the basketball court like you suggested. Remember not to verbally or physically calm her down because it actually reinforces her behavior,example; dog is nervous so you tell her "it's okay girl he's a nice man" and she will interpret it as "good girl for being weary and nervous". Just ignore her anxious behavior and make sure it doesn't escalte into aggression. Then it would be correction time. If she has good experiences with the type people she has started getting weary of, then she will become more calm around them in time.