TL;DR: was visiting family with my puppy for 3 weeks. We came back home recently, and she’s since been scared of every man that tries to say hi to her.
Hi all! I have a 5 month old lab. I live in a busy downtown area, so she grew up meeting all kinds of people (and being super happy about it) and learned to desensitize to her surroundings really quickly. I recently went home (to the suburbs, so a lot less busy) for the holidays with her, and we were gone for around 3 weeks (one week she was with a female dog sitter, because I was on vacation). We got back to the city a few days ago, and I’ve noticed she’s a lot more skittish than usual. She used to love whenever anyone would ask to pet her on the sidewalk, but she’s now very weary when people try to say hi. If it’s a woman, she warms up very quickly. If it’s a man (or even a group with just one man in it), she’ll refuse to move any closer, even trying to run away and sometimes even letting out a small bark. This has even happened with men in my apartment building who she has met and been excited to see in the past.
Does anyone know what could have triggered this change? Is this something that will likely fade away as she transitions back to city living?
submitted by /u/user3184244201
[link] [comments]