As most of you may know i have three dogs and my youngest is a lovely TT bitch. i didn't get her till she was over six months and she was used to living in kennels. she was very nervous from the start and it's taken me a long time to get her used to different noises and places but over the last six months she has learnt to trust me and follows me everywhere.
We go to training classes and she is pretty good at this, knowing all the commands and she is very good off the lead etc. she loves other dogs and some people as long as they leave her alone till she feels happy with them.
i have as far as i know done all the right things to bring her out of herself ie training classes(on going), telling people to ignore her and let her come to them, then reward her by dropping food on the floor etc, always staying calm myself and never forcing her to do things.
She is used to traffic now on walks as i don't make an issue of anything and i really believe in reward based training so she has come a long way but i still can't get her to relax round people, out the house or in.
i feel sad that she feels so threatened when we see people and was wandering whether she will always be like this or it will just take a long time to sort out. i know 6 months is not that long but she still seems to react the same with people as at the begining.
i really want whats best for her so any other advice would be great, i shall continue the way i'm going and hope we make a few more little steps forward.

Can you take her to a park, somewhere where there are people moving around all the time - but somewhere that you can sit with her, quietly - giving her treats when someone goes past, but somewhere you can sit, undisturbed - for maybe 10 mins to start with, gradually building her up to around 30 mins?  

She missed out on that all-important early socialisation and it will take some time, but you are doing so well so far - its just a case of adding to her experiences - and making them as good as you can!

thanks, yes i already did that and continue to try and build positive experiences with her.i spend a lot of time walking her and taking her to places without the other two dogs but of course i do take them out together as well.
She has made best friends with another TT in the village i live and we go for walks together. she is full of herself chasing him round etc and because his owner ignores my dog then she relaxes.
you know what it's like though, people find it hard to not give a fluffy dog attention and look at you as if your mad when you ask them to ignore your dog because she's nervous. usually they don't understand why she would be like this as their dog isn't.

I have a small bitch much the same, except she was 9 months when I got her and had been caged all her life. I'd say it took a full year before she trusted people more. Two years on now she is a lot better but she will never be AS trusting as the other dogs. I think your girl will need more time because it's a very slow process.

your right it is a very slow process, one food forward two back at the moment. such a shame though as her obedience training is going so well but other people and dogs put her off at classes sometimes.
thankfully i love her to bits and will do all i can to help her even if this takes a very long time.

Hi

Well you know I've been going through the same thing as you & what we've discussed.  Perseverence is the key.  Time & patience.  Like you, obedience was coming along really well but the classes were being detrimental to my lad so I stopped for a while.  In fact I started training him in a field rather than a village hall with two other dogs, not loads of bouncy noisey ones.

The park is a great start, think I told you how I went to the local market, legs everywhere etc.  Probably a bit much for your girl at this point.  Go back a step, ask people not to approach her or you (maybe, have a book & don't engage with other people then they'll walk on by).  Personally I wouldn't talk to the dog when people approach - saying "good girl" when someone walks by is telling her that perhaps there's a problem.  If you ignore her you're letting her know that this is normal, no worries etc.  When you get to the point of her allowing people to touch her then you could have a command.  I will pm you something that helped me.

Also, just remember how far you have come.  Remember how she was with traffic to start with etc.  Don't take your achievements lightly, you're doing great.