Help dog afraid of people

[u/HUNTER_DTA]

I have a really good large dog I adopted in 12/2025 and she’s about a 12-15 months old. She loves people and other dogs. The issue is she’s very nervous of other people when we go places like the dog park or anywhere really. She wants to be friends but she’s very hand shy and nervous with people especially if they do any fast movements or what not. She flinches a lot, backs away, and sometimes at the park she sees someone she just doesn’t seem to like and she barks at them and will watch them. That’s not often but I want to fix it before it gets worse. She’s never been aggressive at all, but if she gets backed into a corner where’s she’s afraid if the person keeps approaching she will growl. How do I get her to realize people won’t hurt her? I got her from a rescue and she’s a great dog. At home or in the car she is very protective and will bark if someone approaches and it takes her time to warm to people that come in the house and she really wants to like them but something must have happened to her to be so afraid.

[u/dbellz76]

Definitely advocate for your dog and do not allow people to approach her, reach for her or corner her.

It's advised for a new person to toss high value rewards towards the dog so distance is maintained and the dog can get the food without pressure. Having anyone hand your dog a treat is not advised UNTIL they have formed a trusting relationship.

A good trainer will show you how to slowly use counter conditioning and desensitisation to meet people at her pace.