Advice needed

[lardass88]

Hi. I've posted on here before about my shihtzu rescue dog. He's settling in well ( only had him since October) and up to now my mum has been coming over to walk him twice a week when I'm at work. However I wanted to get a dog walker to take him so he could socialise.. but the dog walker can't get near him.. he won't let her put his lead on let alone walk him. He is a bit funny with new people, he's ok meeting dogs and people out on walks but not great if someone comes to the house. He will bark and growl. I was just wondering if anyone had any advice on getting him used to the dog walker. He does have a strong attachment to me which is what I think the major problem is :/

[talia66]

My dog isn't keen on strangers. So we are doing enrichment training. I had a behaviourist around and she was great. Basically when a new person is around I have to treat him - really high value treats (he loves liver-cake) so he associates new people with something nice happening. Over time he gets used to the person and builds up a relationship. It has been working well. Maybe you need to take some time and do this with you and the dog walker there and help the dog build up some confidence in them.
There is a Facebook group - reactive dogs U.K. - that has great advice about this stuff

[lardass88]

Ah ok I'll give that a try. Thank you x