steffi_aus

Yep, she was raised in a semi rural area so big change for her as we are in the suburbs. She is still fascinated by rubbish bins on bin day!

Thank you all for the interest and helpful advice. I will make contact with the puppy school to make sure they will cater for what she needs. We are in WA, so any recommendations of good behaviourists is appreciated aswell. When we were out today on our short walk I took the same approach of just walking past people we passed and not engaging, and talking to her calmly, she would stare at them a bit but then keep walking. We did see some kids who were playing and being quite loud and she stopped walking when she saw them and seemed more unsure and nervous than she had been previously so I just turned around and we went a different way and she walked on happily. We did stop and talk to one person who we passed, she seemed interested in meeting him so we both crouched down and she went up to him on her own to play with him and she was fine. I actually had a hard time getting her to leave him alone so we could keep walking, she wanted to follow him. We did also meet some other kids and I said she was a little nervous and not to approach her unless she wanted to be patted, they sat down on the ground and once again she went to them on her own, sniffed them and was a little tentative at first,f but then started to play with them and showed no signs of hesitation. I'm not trying to force these interactions, they have just happened by chance while we have been out on our short walks, but it seems that she is generally a lot more relaxed once you are crouched down on her level to meet her. I'll continue to listen to her and we will avoid situations that she doesn't seem to want to be involved in.

Thank you everyone for your replies. She has her first puppy school on the weekend so we are looking forward to that. We have followed the advice of our vet and are just taking her for a walk around our block which is a quiet area, we know a lot of our neighbours and there's not a lot of foot traffic, and not many dogs around. I have had had a few chats to her breeder as we are still in touch, she has been helpful and is a little surprised that she has been scared, particularly with kids as she grew up with them. She suggested the same things lots of others have, taking it slowly, crouching down to her level. This is what we have been doing with visitors until she gets comfortable with them. She has always been friendly after a period of getting used to them, our friends who bought over a fellow Labrador she was fine with them within about a minute as she was so excited to play with a fellow lab. We got her from interstate so we picked her up at the airport, and she was fine with us right from the start, standing up in her crate and wagging her tail. She has never displayed any timid or scared feelings towards us. Today on our walk we passed some people and some kids were playing in the street, I just talked to her calmly, let her watch them for a bit and then we kept walking. Often she seems to want to approach people, but just can't quite find the confidence to do so. We we will keep persevering and hopefully with time she starts to feel a little more comfortable. She is just such an adorable pup with a beautiful temperament, we want to do anything we can to help her relax about people.

Hello, I am new to posting on this site, but have been reading along for awhile and have read lots of helpful advice, I'm now hoping to get some advice of my own. We have a Labrador puppy who is 12 weeks old, we got her when she was 10 weeks old. She is a beautiful puppy with a loving and playful temperament with myself and my partner, and she has settled into our home well. She was raised in a loving family home by a registered breeder with a couple of kids that she loved. What we we have noticed over the last fortnight is that she is very scared when meeting new people. She is not at all aggressive, but will shy away from them, try to hide if she can and slink down low to the ground. On occasions she has also cried but this isn't always the case. We have introduced her to friends and family in our home and she is generally scared for awhile and then she will warm up to them. With some of our friends she has gone from hiding behind us scared or running away, to ten minutes later chasing them around and happily playing. Today we went for a walk around the block and some of our neighbors kids asked if they could pat her - her breeder raised her with kids so I thought it would be okay and said yes, but she completely panicked, tried to run away from them and cried. I felt horrible for putting her in that situation where she was clearly so scared. I would love some advice on how we can help her feel more relaxed when she meets new people? She is not timid or shy at all with myself and my partner - even when we first met her she has never been scared around us. It took us completely by surprise when we first introduced her to someone else and she had such a nervous reaction. Thanks for all your help,