Always looking over her shoulder

[Southpaw]

I think this is more of a recent problem. I don't remember it always being an issue. When I take Juno for walks, if someone is behind us, every couple seconds she looks back and focuses on them. Sometimes it's not a big deal but sometimes she will stop walking altogether when she looks back, or she'll focus on them for too long and she ends up turning herself around or walking into me or I trip over her. And if we're on a 2 mile walk and someone is behind us the whole time... it becomes a very unpleasant walk....

I can call her attention back to me but then she looks right back at the other people. A couple glances, fine, but every 2 seconds for an entire walk is a bit much. She doesn't need to keep tabs on people lol. Depending on how close the people are or how fast they are coming, I sometimes just step off to the side and have her sit while they go past. And after they've went past us, she still makes a few glances behind us like she's just making sure they're not still there. But after that, she's fine. She's fine when they're in front of us and we can go back to what we were doing.

Any suggestions for getting her to stop caring so much?

 

[Kat09Tails]

A suspicion of other people isn't a bad thing and is fairly normal for a great many dogs as they grow up. It's a mental security thing that she will get over, it just takes time. As far as solutions I would suggest putting yourself between strangers and her, or stop, put her in a sit let the person pass you and then continue on the walk.

I would not encourage interaction between people she's suspicious of but rather expect benign indifference. When she starts getting antsy bring her focus back to you, let the distraction move by, reward, then continue on your way. Eventually the ghosts in her head that let these things be a distraction will become something she's more secure about. Usually you see these puppy insecurities concrete themselves or move past by age two depending on training tactics.