When it comes to impressions of dogs, most people think of the word friendly, because most dogs have very gentle personalities and are not aggressive towards people. When being petted, dogs even show signs of enjoyment. However, there are special cases where some dogs really dislike or even hate being touched by strangers. This worries many pet owners because it means they need to spend more time observing their dogs to prevent the dogs from attacking strangers due to their dislike of being touched by them. So, can the issue of a dog not allowing strangers to touch it be resolved? If it can, how should it be resolved? Owners who have this concern might try the following methods.

Actually, to solve the problem of dogs not allowing strangers to touch them, we first need to understand the reasons behind it. Some dogs particularly reject strangers because they have been attacked or hurt by strangers before. For this cause, what we need to do is have strangers pay attention to how they approach contact with the dog. They should not reach to touch the dog’s head immediately when first approaching. Offering the dog a treat it loves and easing its wariness before petting will make the process much smoother.

Moreover, some dogs do not allow strangers to touch them because they have not been to many unfamiliar environments or met many strangers, which causes them to develop a shyness pattern. Therefore, as owners, we need to take our dogs to unfamiliar places more often and expose them to more strangers. Once the dog gets used to it, its courage will increase, and it will no longer feel surprised or frightened by being touched by strangers.

Of course, if after trying the above methods for some time the dog still does not like being touched by strangers, we should not continue to force it. Just like people, dogs have their own preferences. As long as the dog is physically and mentally healthy, there really is no need to force it to accept something it does not want to accept.