so my fiancée and i got our dog, Margot, from a rescue about 3 years ago. we think that she’s around 4-5 years old. she’s super sweet & loves both of us to death, but she’s scared/nervous when we have friends over.

all of the people she has met have been dog lovers. people always tell her that she’s so pretty, offer treats, etc. but she woos and barks and tries to hide behind mom & dad. she has gotten waaay better in the time that we have had her, but she still kinda freaks when someone comes to visit. doesn’t really matter if they’ve been to the house before either, she still is untrusting. we believe it is because she was abused by men in the past, in the time before we had her. she’s usually ok with shorter men and women/girls, but for some reason she hates all my tall male friends, even when they kneel or couch to be more on-her-level. (and this isn’t some hidden ‘oh i know this guys is bad’ thing, she acts differently when she’s trying to warm us about something.)

we have noticed that she doesn’t like hats or hoodies, so we ask that people remove them before they try and interact with her. she’s never showed any signs of real aggression, never bitten anyone & never showed signs of even coming close to a bite. she’s a very sweet dog, she just doesn’t trust new people.

basically, i want to eventually take her to meet my grandparents, who are dog lovers, but i’m worried that she will act a fool. we really want to take her on trips and to go outdoors and things like that but she always acts nervous around people and it just makes me sad mostly, because she IS such a sweet dog and i want her to get the attention she deserves when people want to give it to her.

i know this a super basic post, but any tips or help is greatly appreciated !!