The dog is a 2 year old German Shepherd, a very happy dog when with family, children and people he knows well. Otherwise he is petrified of anyone else, and runs away. This has stemmed from our previous gardener chasing him and trying to hit him when he was a puppy - something we were unaware of until the gardener had left. How can we get him not to be frightened of people - and it is a true fear, not just nervousness. He loves going in the car, but hates it when we arrive somewhere that he doesn't know. He hops down on the floor when we arrive so that no one can see him. He does bark when someone arrives at the gate, and drives in, but we have had a couple of burglaries in the past 8 months, and he doesn't bark then - just climbs in a window of the house to get away.

He needs to be more confident - have you looked into one-on-one training?

EDIT: I recognized your user name. And, yes, I have a lot of time on my hands today because I'm sitting in front of a house with nothing else to do. Your posts are VERY contradictory. We are all volunteers here, passionate about dogs, willing and able to help.

I don't like to be "fooled" and no one else does either. What's going on?

I notice you also have a deaf dog (https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/dogs/d...p-670727.html; a pit that's a handful); a Pit that is a problem (https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/dogs/9...-668105.html); a Ridgeback you can't control (https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/dogs/p...-665729.html); a Jack Russell with issues (https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/dogs/2...-662737.html); a Border Collie with issues (https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/dogs/2...-662161.html); a Scottish Terrier with issues (https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/dogs/s...-659119.html); you live alone with two GSDs (https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/dogs/p...-657699.html); two days before the “live alone” post you had a Pointer and a cross breed (https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/dogs/p...-657117.html); two days before that it was two GSDs again (https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/dogs/b...-656263.html); two weeks earlier you owned a Pom (https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/dogs/d...-653576.html); 2 days before that some dog had cataracts (https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/dogs/h...ad-652860.html)