shy Shepherd

Question
Patt:
 We recently rescued a handsome shepherd for the local humane society. He is about 3, male, neutered. He is great dog. Problem is that he is incredibly shy around men. The people at the humane society believe he was abused by a former owner. He has taken to my wife well and is her "shadow", but is still skitish around me and my son. I know it will take time for him to trust us and we will measure progress in inches. I try not to do anything that could be considered as threatening, praise him a lot, not smother him, let him come to me. Is there anything else I could be doing or not doing to remove this fear he has of me?
Thank you:
Mike

Answer
Hi Mike
Just stand back and stay back for some time until this dog accepts you.
Yes he as been mistreated my a male of your statuere.
Sorry to say so not he must learn to trust once again and gain confidence in a male and you especially, it will take time, patience and love on your part.
Being he is an adult will even take longer and more patience on your part, you start to feed his his meals only you, take him on slow easy walks only you daily.  U play with him ball or whatever he likes only u.
You must be the KEY player now to gain this dogs lack of confidence in a man like you yes such a pity somebody would do this but done every day and it takes people like u to rescue and work with them tireless hours to let them learn to love and trust one more time around.
Dogs do learn to respect and love people no matter how bad they were kicked, beaten around they come back so start to think like a dog and earn his respect slowly again.  He will come around with tons of trust, fun, love, treats, etc.

Kind Regards
Patt
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