Scared of People ?

[Emmsmom]

Diesel is 8 months old and he is very scared of people. I take him everywhere with me. He has never nipped at anyone. He just backs up so that he can't be rubbed by a stranger. I actually have to pick him up so they can love all over him. Today I saw the cutest thing. This little girl at the playground wanted to rub him. He wanted no part of it. The little girl was only about 3. So I sat with him and she rubbed under his chin and he was fine with it. Altho he still backed away the more she made over him the better things got. She asked if she could hold him and I said sure. So while she was sitting in the grass I handed him to her. She fell in love with him. Then he turned and looked up at her and gave her an itty bitty lick on the nose. LOL Later she got up to walk away and he started to follow her wagging his tail.

Is this something that is unusual? My granmother's dog HATES kids and tries to bite them. He nips at a lot of people including my granny. I told granny she had better nip that in the bud real quick but she doesn't do anything. Now Diesel is very protective of me IF he is in my lap or licking me and our Shepherd comes by. So...

What is normal if there i such a thing LOL ...

Michelle

[Jaspermom]

Originally Posted by Emmsmom

Diesel is 8 months old and he is very scared of people. I take him everywhere with me. He has never nipped at anyone. He just backs up so that he can't be rubbed by a stranger. I actually have to pick him up so they can love all over him. Today I saw the cutest thing. This little girl at the playground wanted to rub him. He wanted no part of it. The little girl was only about 3. So I sat with him and she rubbed under his chin and he was fine with it. Altho he still backed away the more she made over him the better things got. She asked if she could hold him and I said sure. So while she was sitting in the grass I handed him to her. She fell in love with him. Then he turned and looked up at her and gave her an itty bitty lick on the nose. LOL Later she got up to walk away and he started to follow her wagging his tail.

Is this something that is unusual? My granmother's dog HATES kids and tries to bite them. He nips at a lot of people including my granny. I told granny she had better nip that in the bud real quick but she doesn't do anything. Now Diesel is very protective of me IF he is in my lap or licking me and our Shepherd comes by. So...

What is normal if there i such a thing LOL ...

Michelle

I love the visual I got from the description of Diesel and the 3 year old! There is nothing cuter than little kids and puppies interacting!

Just like humans are all different, so are all dogs. You can't know how outgoing or how shy your pup is going to be until you see them in action. My Wosie loves just about everyone. Rarely do I ever see her act shy or aggressive with any humans, though every now and then she does see a human that she doesn't like. Heck, so do I!

Find a treat that Diesel really really likes, and if he is acting shy, give a little bit of the treat to the stranger and let them give it to Diesel while you praise praise praise. After a while Diesel will be really happy to go to a stranger because he thinks he will get a treat, lol. You may want to start this slowly, by getting someone to come to your house, and then go to theirs, and then out to the general public. Go to Petsmart and just walk the aisles letting strangers give your pup treats. People will fall all over themselves to help you, lol.

Your mom can use this with her aggressive one, but she needs to be really slow and careful with it.

Good luck! And here's a picture that shows what I mean about how CUTE little kids are with pups!

[chachi]

My Jewels is afraid of people too she ducks when people try to pet her. I think it is in the dogs personality.

[Emmsmom]

awwww.. That is the cutest picture!. You can't help but fall in love wiht them.

Michelle

[ldenise]

I have one out of the four that is afraid of people. when someone comes in the door he goes off and lays down. I knid of whish the others would do that. LOL

[hle_625]

My 2 are completely opposite of yours when it comes to strangers! They act like they have known them forever! If anyone comes close to them they better want some yorkie kisses bc thats what they are going to get!

[Oscar's Mom]

Oscar loves EVERYBODY!!! He NEVER meets a stranger. He just about pees his pants to get someone to pay attention to him. He actually has a fit for them to hold him! Now the other day, we stopped by a huge adoption thing they were having in the parking lot. There were a lot of dogs and people. This woman came up to me...crazy hair...very scruffy. She had big hands and kind of gave me the creeps...Oscar hated her! That is the first person he ever backed away from. She tried to pet him and she seemed really rough to me...not tender. We both backed away and went on our way. Funny how dogs sense things.

[Jaspermom]

There's this guy who comes once a month to deliver books and gifts for us to buy at work, and I think it's Reader's Digest that he works for. Wosie barks at him ferociously from the moment he steps foot in the door until he leaves. He completely ignores her, like she doesn't even exist, never has tried to pet her, doesn't talk to her, nothing. She knows he doesn't like dogs, and she doesn't like him. I have never seen her act that way with anyone else. Usually she wiggles herself silly until they pet her!

[Patti]

When I got Cali in late August the neighborhood kids all around 5 and 6 years old would come over when ever they saw Cali outsude and she loved them. Now with not seeing them all winter she saw them this week twice and was scared to death of them shaking etc. Then Saturday night my girlfriend and I went to a concert and my dtr said she would take my gf 9 year old to the movies and bring her back to our house. My dtr said the whole time she was here about 4 hours Cali wouldn't come near her and just laid on my bed she was scared of her. Amanda has a small dog and is very gentle with animals. I hope this is a stage they go thru. I will try and gradually get her use to kids again with the warmer weather now.

[teri88]

Tucker usually loves to meet people. His little butt starts shaking and he gets all excited. (and usually pees) But, this last Sun at Megan's party my brother-in-law could not get him to come to him. It was the weirdest thing. He's start to go toward him and as soon as bil would try to pet him he'd back up. Even when he gave him pizza crust, he was not too sure about going up to him. Maybe they just don't like some peopel?

[rox626]

My dog doesn't like kids all that much. She is only three pounds and knows she is little. A couple of years ago, she kept darting out of the reach of this little boy. He yanked on her leash that I was holding and kicked her. Kids often ask to pet her but if I hold her so they can do it, she might nip. My teen age son likes to tease her and has made her meaner than she probably would have been.
If you want your dog to get over his fear with strangers, have them give him treats. You can work on this by keeping something small like those Authority liver treats with you and just ask kids if they want to help you by giving him those treats. It will be fun for them and it might help him out of his shell.

[susansmom]

Susan doesn't much like kids, either. She doesn't hate them. She's just not interested. In fact, as far as I can tell the only people she really likes are me, my mom and my sister. She tolerates my husband and father. Other people are are the subject of mild curiousity.

[AmyZinNC]

Daisy is terrified of everyone and everything..lol

But hers gets to the point that when we have anyone over, she goes into this huge shaking ordeal, scurries around, and just has the worst anxiety. Im actually going to ask my vet about any meds to give her when we have people over (which we do alot) etc....

the people at petsmart told me not to waste my money on the stuff they sell int he store...

[Emmsmom]

Seems like this is common among Yorkies. Diesel is getting better so we will see how it goes.

Michelle

[Annie&Badger]

I agree alot with what most have said on here. My Badger was very nervous and still is a little but he's gone the other extreme now... haha! I can't get him to stop going up to people and wagging his tail and acting like some neighbourhood 'celebrity'. He crouches down really low and his ears go flat so I think he's still a little nervous but I just carry loads of treats around with me and people are only too happy to give him them and cuddle him. I think with children, it's best to follow what your Yorkie is happiest with. Badger likes children who are gentle but he shys away from the more excitable ones which is understandable. I think that's just his nature. I always encourage him to say hi and if he's not interested then we just say thanks "we're a bit tired today" and go on. It sounds to me like Diesel likes a little more quiet one on one interaction and from what you've said about the little girl makes perfect sense in terms of him having his own like and dislikes (just like we do) when it comes to people and kids. I wouldn't worry too much about it. Just do what you can and he'll do the rest