Dog Fears me

Question
My daughter got this dog from a friend, and it has been a month and he still runs/shies away from me. I have never injured the animal in any way, and assume that he was abused. Is there any short cut to getting the animal more amiable. Thanks for any help.

Answer
Hi, Don,

Thanks for the question. I hope I can help.

How big is he? And does he show any aggression over food?

If not, you should hand feed him all his meals while sitting cross-legged on the floor. Just sit there and offer him to come to you and eat. If he's too shy to eat this way, try not looking at him: just hold the food out with one hand and turn your head. If THAT doesn't work, lie on your back and hold the food out for him to take. Just lie there, praising him softly. Give him about 5 minutes to come eat from your hand. (You might want to put some extra tasty bits of boiled chicken in with the dog food.) If he still doesn't eat, wait till his next meal time and try again.

Once you've got him eating out of your hand while you're lying down, you can do it sitting up. Once he's comfortable doing that, you can try it outside (while he's on the leash). As he gets more comfortable eating from your hand try petting him as he eats. Once he gets comfortable enough to let you pet him while he eats, you can do a pushing exercise, where you put one hand gently up against his chest, palm up. Then hold the food under his nose with your other hand. As he eats, slowly (and I mean it has to be almost imperceptibly slow) pull the food hand toward you while keeping the other hand steady in its position so that he has to push into you in order to eat. By this time he'll no longer be shy around you, but he may still be shy around strangers, other dogs, etc. So you need to keep doing the pushing exercise every day until he's no longer afraid of anything.

If you need further help, let me know.

LCK