- Location
- Cornwall , UK
When Reuben was just a pup of about four months , we had visitors who thankfully we see very rarely . The man has a very loud bellowing voice and to my anger, started shouting at Reuben , BOO , over and over despite the poor pup showing fear . I told him to stop, his wife told him to stop but it was only when Paul told him that he must leave if he didnt stop , that he ceased . I was very upset , we both were , the situation made worse as he ( was ) one of Pauls oldest friends and had also just been told that he had prostate cancer, so a tricky situation . Not long after this, whilst out walking , Reuben ran up to a man and his dogs , and yes I know he shouldnt have run to them but he was only fourish months old , the man shook his walking stick at our boy who hadnt even jumped up , he got the sharp end of my tongue for it too .
This set off a mistrust of men , which manifested itself in Reuben barking at men if they were coming towards him , this only being men he didnt know . Slowly over the next months , if I saw a strange man approaching , I made a point of dishing out the treats big time , distraction method until eventually he would relax if I stopped to talk to a man , still a little shy but nothing to worry about . This has improved over time , indeed over the past few days we have come across several men , and no issue at all for Reuben . Today was the pinnacle when a man came towards us , in full running gear , no reaction at all from Reubs , just a wag of his tail as the man ran by but oh , if only people knew the damage they cause by being so damned stupid around young pups , I just thank goodness that Reubs seems to have overcome x
This set off a mistrust of men , which manifested itself in Reuben barking at men if they were coming towards him , this only being men he didnt know . Slowly over the next months , if I saw a strange man approaching , I made a point of dishing out the treats big time , distraction method until eventually he would relax if I stopped to talk to a man , still a little shy but nothing to worry about . This has improved over time , indeed over the past few days we have come across several men , and no issue at all for Reuben . Today was the pinnacle when a man came towards us , in full running gear , no reaction at all from Reubs , just a wag of his tail as the man ran by but oh , if only people knew the damage they cause by being so damned stupid around young pups , I just thank goodness that Reubs seems to have overcome x
such a clever boy x
Our pups are so like toddlers , very impressionable and easily scared , some people are just oblivious to the fact , leaving us , their guardians to pick up the pieces and deal with the fall out .@HAH I`m sorry that you had a similar thing when Kipper was a babe , and 
