My 2 year old Great Dane Shadow is terribly scared of men. We had him from a 12 week old pup and have never mistreated him in any way. The breeders did tell us that they had kept his older brother from a previous litter as he was so nervous. When we bought Shadow the older dog would not even come into the room with us. Could this be where Shadows problem stems from?
If Shadow sees a man whilst out walking (on the lead) he will literally drag me into the road to get away from him. At home he will bark and bark at a man he doesn't know and if approached he will bolt upstairs. He is fine with men that we see regularly. Any advice would be great as I don't know what else to do.

Hi Lynne
Unfortunately our giant breeds tend to go through a kind of *teenage fear* period (particularly the boys!). :rolleyes:
I have Irish Wolfhounds and most of the teenage boys do have some sort of phobias manifest at around this age.
I know it is very difficult to be reassuring WITHOUT encouraging the behaviour, but trying to make them face their fear seems to make it worse. :(
My boy is 4 now and he developed a fear of men too, but it could be anything *normal* they suddenly react to, another of mine hated stairs, another slippery floors, he is still like it to some degree but he is getting better, imho it is just a matter of being kindly firm and ignoring the silly behaviour, without stroking and cuddling when he exhibits it or he will get the wrong signals.
Fingers crossed with some work he will get better with men again. :)
Nicky

Hi Lynne
Forgot to add that back in July another poster was looking for answers to much the same sort of prob's with her 2yo Great Dane and that week I happened to have read an article in Dog World by Ann Roslin-Williams about *Teenage* problems.
I copied the article out on the thread *My Obsessed Dog*, it may be of interest to you too.
Nicky

Thanks for the advice. Have read the article you typed out. Computers been down for a while - hence the lack of replies from me!
Not really sure what to do now. We never make a fuss of him when he's scared - basically ignore him and carry on as normal. We did try making him face his fears but it definatley made it worse! I think I'll just have to resign myself that he'll always have this problem or maybe one day grow out of it.

Hi Lynne,
Something to think about perhaps..... Men and women are different --in attitudes, centers of balance, stance, intentions, and even odors. Animals can tell the differences between genders and sometimes "La difference" is just not appreciated :)

8 years ago, My husband, another couple, and myself were visiting an animal refuge. We were above an enclosure where there were elk. All of a sudden, the male stag charged 50 feet up to my husband and Gordon. If there wasn't a fence, he would have nailed them with his antlers. He was very unhappy that they were there and especially when they didn't leave for a bit.

When it was just Gretchen and I standing there, the stag would relax and even allow his nose to be petted. But if the guys returned, he would drop his head and ram the fence at them :rolleyes: Somehow he realized they were competition ;)
toodles

Sorry I can't be more helpful Lynne.
Just keep being reassuring without encouraging his fear and hopefully he'll come round. :)
Nicky

its probably more likely to be in his genetic makeup, as such theres not a whole lot you can so about it, ive had the same problem with a bitch i bought in, it passed onto her offspring, i never bred from her again and had her only daughter speyed, ---the vet maybe able to help you with something to calm the pup down, but was your breeder acting very responsibly by breeding from the dam again when shed already had one [or more] pup with temperament problems, i do feel for you as it got to the stage where it wasnt even worth taking mine for a walk, she would come back looking as if id beaten her she was so wound up, --i hope he improves but you might need to seek help.