Hi I was wondering if anyone had any advice so I can help my basset realise not everyone is scary. He is an entire 14month boy who is now scared of any new people after we were burgled a few months ago. He will bark and run away, he has never growled, bitten or shown his teeth, he will just stay away from them. We try to ignore the behaviour and not force him to interact and we tell people not to try and touch him, so he can take it in his own time but now he barks at children and the vet. I just want him to be our happy boy again and I also don't really want the behaviour to rub off on our 12week old pup (stans sister). Thank you

Did this behaviour start when you brought the puppy into the home?    Personally, I prefer to wait for almost 2 years before introducing another puppy.   And, from experience, male adolescents are generally very worried by puppies!

No this happened about six months ago and was literally straight after we were burgled x

You're definitely on the right track with what you are doing (not forcing things etc), but nervousness can be very hard to overcome. It might be an idea if you got help from a good behaviourist. If you can tell us the general area you live in somebody might be able to recommend a behaviourist.

I live in yeovil, Somerset so if anyone knows any behaviours that would be great as he is such a loving dog to people he knows but gives a bad impression to those he doesn't. X

Your best bet would be see a behaviourist and see what works for him.

You could try an activity to help him gain confidence. That's why I started doing flyball with my girl as she is nervous of strangers. Mine went funny after getting over parvo, I carried on with ring craft and showing and would take her into the park or town and just sit and watch the world go by. But I know people who don't agree who think it's too much but so far there has been improvement in some areas.

I also find walking her on a flexi lead makes a diffrence for us, i wont leave her off lead around strangers as she will run up to them and run around barking  (when she gets like that she goes death) and when on a normal lead she doesn't normaly react (she use to react more especially if I stopped to talk to a stranger but now she is normaly quiet) i find the flexi lead allows me to trust her while still being about to stop her if she did react. Which allows me to relax as when she is off lead I have to constantly watch for people coming so if i cant relax I can expect her to. (Was told that at ring craft as I was expecting her not to stand on the table and she wouldn't yet the teacher could do it and she stood perfectly like she use to, they said it was partly my nerves, so on the flexi lead I'm not thinking, is she's going to freak out, please don't freak out, oh God don't let her freak out) At first she would still bark but now most times she doesn't bark when on the flexi, still wants to go up behind them to have a sneaky sniff but doesn't like it if they turn to speak to her.

Try Sarah Cooke at http://www.dogaffinity.co.uk/

Our elder boy came to us at 9 months & was very wary of people, which was exacerbated by those not having seen a basset coming up & taking him by surprise. On lead we would keep our distance & if interest was shown I'd ask them to stand at some distance giving him space to make up his own mind, as the weeks past he improved & if 'he' choose to say hello he'd be given a biscuit by them. If off lead, initially he'd slope on by & if moved towards would try to escape with tail between legs, again always asked people to kept their distance, ignore & allow him to approach, if he settled again a treat was given. It took some while but we got there, he's never been the most relaxed dog, will give distance off lead when unsure & always ask people to understand. Got very 'cute' for a while charging up to everyone on the beach expecting food.
Have you thought of taking him to training classes, if you find the right one as we did, sitting in the corner to begin with & quickly progressing to taking part which he's really benefited from & even better enjoys.
Sorry to hear of your burglary & hope he regains his confidence soon.