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My dog is shy around strangers and barks. How can I socialize him?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | German Shepherd | Male | unneutered | 6 months and 20 days old | 50 lbs

recently I’ve been taking my gsd more than usually out to get him more comfortable with people. He seems still not to like people. I’ll have people who want to pet him come up and give him a treat but he still won’t go to them. He stays by me and sits what can I do. He started to bark at strangers who move to close to him

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Jennifer Summerfield, DVM CPDT-KA

Veterinarian, Certified Dog Trainer

Published on August 3rd, 2019

It sounds like Noble is not very comfortable interacting with strangers at this stage, so I would stop allowing people to pet him. Instead, you can stand at a distance and just observe people - praise and reward with a treat every time he sees someone walk by. This way, he can learn to associate good things with seeing people, and will also learn that he won't be forced to interact if he doesn't want to. Later on, as he gets more comfortable, he can say hello to certain people if he offers to approach them himself.

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  • Image profile

    Answered By Jennifer Summerfield, DVM CPDT-KA

    Veterinarian, Certified Dog Trainer

    Published on

    It sounds like Noble is not very comfortable interacting with strangers at this stage, so I would stop allowing people to pet him. Instead, you can stand at a distance and just observe people - praise and reward with a treat every time he sees someone walk by. This way, he can learn to associate good things with seeing people, and will also learn that he won't be forced to interact if he doesn't want to. Later on, as he gets more comfortable, he can say hello to certain people if he offers to approach them himself.

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    1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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