Hi all
We have a 4 yr old working bearded collie who we have had since she was 12 weeks old. She spent her the early weeks of her life in a barn and I think was probably one of the weaker pups ,we tried (and are still trying!!) to soclialise her as best we could  and she has done really well graduating from behaviour class with flying colours. She gets along great with most other dogs, is obedient  and is the happiest dog in the world outside of the house however  she is  fear aggressive of visitors to our house and won t approach them or allow them to touch her .We saw a behaviourist about 18 months ago who suggested that visitors totally ignore her on arrival which has worked to an extent, she is much happier and eventually settles down but I am keen to move things on . Sometimes she seems to be pleased to see them and approaches them with wagging tail but I have seen her change as soon as they go to let her smell their hand and I don t want her to do any damage to anyone so I always say to them to just ignore her.
She has never bitten anyone but drops her head and growls if they attempt to touch her. Can anyone offer any suggestions ?

Have you had the visitors offer her treats? REALLY nice treats. They should give these to her without looking at her as well, and not trying to touch her. She decides what she wants to do, what she feels comfortable with. It's worked wonders for one of mine.

thanks will try that x

One of the trainers, I have spoken to about Scarlet, has suggested the following:

When someone comes, tell them to initially ignore the dog.  Then shake that persons hand, and talk to the person.  With your dog beside you, hand the "person" a treat, and follow the persons hand down with yours, so both hands (yours and the other persons) are offering a treat.  The dog will do one of two things:

either take the treat (because there is a familiar scent coming with the treat, a treat, and this new scent)
or
Bite your hand before it bites the other person (hopefully).  its a bit of protection for the other person.  Also, you can better control the dog, with your hand down their as well.

HTH

Hi,

It may also be worth greeting visitors with her outside, going for a few minutes walk, just up the street or something, then getting the visitor to give her some treats and then all coming in together.  Obviously you can't do that with all visitors but with friends you can :-) It might just make her feel a bit more comfortable and change a cycle. 

Have you tried giving her a stuffed kong or scattering some special treats on the floor when visitors arrive so that she can build up a good association with the arrival of visitors without them having to make direct contact with her.  Then if she does approach them have them prepared with some yummy treats that they can drop on ther floor for her rather than hand them directly to her which may be a bit much for her at the moment but she still gets to build up the good assocation, then when she starts getting more confident they can start handing her the treats :-)

Many thanks for that, she is very wary about taking food from anyones hand except her dog walking pals owners and ours but it definately makes sense to try walking with visitors to relax her. Bring on the visitors!