How 2 Dogs Overcome Their Fear of Being Touched by Strangers

In this Omaha dog training session, we worked with two 1-year-old Shetland Sheepdogs named Quinn (left) and Remy (right). Their guardian reached out because both pups have a fear of being touched by strangers.

How to Help Dogs Overcome a Fear of Being Touched by Strangers

Both of them feel shy and do not like new people to pet them. When someone approaches them, they back up to avoid being touched.

The dog’s guardian has done an outstanding job of training this pair of dogs. You could instantly tell she has been spending time teaching them various commands and that the dogs were exceptionally smart.

While the dog training was going well, I did notice the guardian doing a few things that likely confused the dogs behavior wise. A few examples were petting them at times when the dogs were really excited, repeating commands over and over, and giving attention when they demand barked at her.

I shared a number of positive dog training tips that will help the dogs start to identify as being in a follower position. Before the session, I think the dogs saw themselves as peers to the guardian.

Petting with a purpose, rewarding desired behaviors and ignoring unwanted actions can all help shift the leader follower dynamic. I also suggested a few rules and ways to enforce them.

Petting Dogs Who are Uncomfortable Being Touched

Next, I addressed the dogs’ habit of moving away any time I reached over to pet them. I have seen many dogs who are uncomfortable being touched, especially by strangers. There are many reasons for dogs to back away from people trying to pet them; fear, anxiety, insecurity, etc. In Quinn and Remy’s case, I think it was a mild case of general nervousness.

I pulled out some high-value treats and showed Quinn and Remy’s guardian how to use some counterconditioning principles to help dogs get over their fear of being touched by strangers.

Within 2 minutes both dogs were no longer recoiling when I reached out to pet them. It was great to see how quickly the dogs stopped avoiding being touched by strangers.

I suggested that the guardian invite friends or neighbors to visit at least once a week. The more visits, the better. This will help the dogs get used to new people and overcome their skittish behavior.

Curbing Nervous Dog Behavior

We also helped Remy with his fear of the kennel. We did some positive crate training exercises where we rewarded him for going inside. This helped him practice being inside for longer periods.

By the end of the session, the dogs were comfortable with me touching them. The guardian felt she had new tools to help burn off extra energy. She also learned how important it is to reward good behaviors. This way, the dogs will repeat those behaviors instead of barking for attention.

We created a video to help Remy and Quinn’s guardian remember the dog behavior tips from our training session. You can watch the roadmap to success video below.