It's a true fear, not just nervousness - help!
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.