Hi everyone!

New to this site, and hoping to get some great advice.
My boyfriend and I recently got a husky puppy when she was 8 weeks old. She did so well in her crate and everything, and has already learned sit, lay down, shake paw, and leave it. She is almost 13 weeks now.

I only have two concerns with her. Her bite inihibition (since none of the training techniques seem to work with her...ex. "Ouch" in high pitch, walking away, etc.) and her anxiety around MOST strangers. We go on daily walks with her to try to desensitize her to people. She's not bad at walking but sometimes she will freeze. But not too much. She ducks and runs and whines when people approach her. The only people she has been fine with are MY immediate family and my one friend. The rest she either never warms up to, or will after a few days. I'm just wondering if she will outgrow this or if there are any steps I can take to get her comfortable with people approaching her. She seems "okay" with dogs, just needs to get a sniff first but I find she doesn't know her bite yet and gets pretty rough with them.

I have no intention on MAKING her love everyone and run up to people. I just want her to be okay with being touched and approached by people, even if she is still ignoring the person by not licking them.

Any advice would be great!

Here's little koda

Exposure and time will help. It's a big world and she's still getting a taste of it. Take some high value treats with you when you are going to be around strangers and people who want to approach her give have them ignore her at first so she can sniff their feet if she wants and give them a treat to give her. You want her to associate people with good things. Being around dogs who like people can also help.

If she bites too hard tell her no and walk away. Too hard means the end of fun. She will get it in time. You already know she's a smart girl. She's a beauty as well.

I think it helps if you ask the person to get down to your pups level when meeting her. I think what happens (I'm not positive on this though) is when people see a puppy, they rush up to it, want to pet it, and this little puppy is on the ground with large people hovering over them. To a little puppy, it can be overwhelming, and it gets repeated over and over and creates this "fear" or shyness, if someone goes down to their knees, for example (which a lot of people do know is the way to greet a new dog/dog they don't know, but when it's a puppy it all gets forgotten) and then has your puppy come to them, it's a lot less stressful.

My boy, Kohdi, is about as outgoing, confident as a dog can be. When he was a puppy, I had him by himself and when people saw him they had to rush over to meet the fluffy little puppy and I'd instantly scoop him up and hold him while they met him, set him back on the ground which made people then go down to the ground, too, lol. With my little girl, Mishka, I wasn't always able to do that because I'd normally have Kohdi with as well, and she did develop a shyness when people rushed over to her/walked up to her too fast/came in her direction too quickly, as time went on. For the most part it's broken now, it came mostly from time and exposure, but once in awhile we will be some place where there are a lot of people and she will push herself up against my leg if someone comes at her too quickly, I'll just reach down and pat her and say "it's ok" and she relaxes, but I really think the shyness is something that's conditioned into them from being exposed too young, to people hovering over them with their excited nature of wanting to meet/pet the fluffy little puppy, over and over. I think with your puppy, she will get over it with time, exposure, and of course the fact she is growing so she feels more confident in that respect. Good luck! She sure is cute!

My pup is SUPER selective of who she likes and doesn't and that usually includes not liking pretty much any man. As Jimmy said, when people get on her level, I do notice that she isn't as timid and scared most the time. Also if they have a dog with them she's usually fine as well, but she barks at and tries to run away to hide from any man and even many women who have short hair and manlier features who look at her and makes eye contact for too long or try and approach her. In places she's comfortable, she's a lot better at being okay with people. She LOVES the petsmart I work at and has so much confidence in there and also around our neighborhood where she's extremely comfortable she's totally fine with most people. I usually hold Tetra in my arms so people can pet her when she fells more comfortable since I'm her whole world(separation anxiety from me, a whole different problem lol) or I hold her on the ground so she has me comforting her. She still, even at almost 10 months, has not changed her behavior, but she usually warms up to new people after a little while as long as she feels comfortable. She's usually better with women than men, but she's never had a bad experience with a man so I'm not sure why that is. I guess some dogs just know they're trouble She has gotten a little better about it over time, but she still has a lot of the fears and anxieties. I don't try to force them out of her, I just try to make her more comfortable in situations she doesn't like.

Thanks for the advice everyone! I have also noticed that Koda is selective on the people she likes. She likes some men and women but not others. She's not afraid of just men and not afraid of just women. She just chooses which ones she likes, lol. I find she tends to be good with people who are "dog people". People who have a calmer presence and have had experience with dogs. She wont go near my boyfriend's family (who never had a dog) even when we tell them to ignore her, but she warmed up to my entire family from the get go. Hopefully over time she gains some more confidence. I will continue to take her on walks around people with some good treats to make every experience a positive one!