Many people own dogs who are scared of strangers. Jill’s rescue dog gets nervous and barks when people come to her house. What can be done?

Question

Hi I adopted a dog from a pet rescue centre that was abandoned when she was a puppy, she is now nearly 2yrs old.she is a cross breed. The problem is that she is very nervous, scared and barks if anyone she doesn’t know comes near her or us! it took her over one year to accept our neighbours coming in the house. With people she knows she is great and in the house with us she is perfect, but unfortunately no one can come in the house who she doesn’t know, she seems to think that everyone is going to hurt her. She gets lots of hugs and love from us but it makes no difference to her. Can she possibly be trained to overcome this problem because we live in a very busy household with continuous comings and goings. I am desperate!

Hi Jill
One can’t change the genes or a bad background.
However you most certainly can build up your dog’s confidence by taking her out and exposing her to the world and teaching her life skills. It’s called character building and there’s no better place to take her than to a well run puppy school, held by an experienced dog handler.
There are too many people around taking puppy classes who don’t even know which is the sharp end of a dog! Avoid these “experts” even if it is the vets wife…. unless of course she has hands on experience, or you will do more damage than good!
Good luck
Glynne